This month brings several new features to the item canvas. Following last month's style change, we've also improved the legibility of several areas in Asset Classic, including the Workflow Editor, Data Explorer and generated report documents.

The update took place during the evening of the 27th of November. For a full list of changes, see v3.1 in the Changelog.

New clone item process 🧬

To create a copy of an item, you can clone it. This provides a quick way to create multiple items with similar data.

When viewing an item in the Asset Management Apps, select the Clone item button in its header to open a new stepped process. This lets you override any aspect of the new item, including its properties, attribute values and geographical location. You can also choose whether linked items are ignored, kept or cloned as well!

New item canvas sections 🗂️

When viewing an item in the Asset Management Apps, its data and relationships are displayed on the item canvas. Each section of the canvas displays different information about the current item.

Two new canvas sections are now available for specific item types. They are displayed by default for relevant items and can be added to any custom canvas views you create for those items.

Applies to

The new Applies to section is available on items of designs that implement the Work Items interface.

A work item defines a discrete unit of work that can be quantified and costed, e.g. a duration of billable work time. By adding a work item to a job, you can create a corresponding job work item containing job-specific values, e.g. 5 hours. This makes it possible to formalise job requirements.

To be useful, a work item must apply to one or more job designs/interfaces. This ensures that only suitable work items can be added to a job, e.g. work items specific to waste collection jobs can't be added to tree pruning jobs.

When viewing a work item's details, you can now use the Applies to section to manage the designs and interfaces that the work item is applicable to.

Permits

The new Permits section is available on items of job designs that implement the Street Manager Works Reference Assignable interface. In other words, jobs affecting streets or roads that require permission to be granted before work can begin.

Our optional Street Works module provides integration with the government's Street Manager service. It enables CausewayOne Asset Management to apply for work permits on your behalf.

When viewing a job's details, you can now use the Permits section to check the job's permit status. If a permit has been applied for, you can view its details and log work start/stop events. The ability to apply directly for permits is coming soon. In the meantime, you can do this via the Street Manager website and link the job to the new Works Reference.

Item canvas templates 📐

You can create custom item canvas views for any design/interface. This defines the order and visibility of the data sections displayed for relevant items. Users can then switch between available views according to their preference.

Make a template

A canvas view can now be converted into a reusable template that new canvas views can be created from. This makes it easy to reuse established layouts and produce canvas views for related designs/interfaces.

For example, you could create a canvas view template for general defects. You could then use it to create similar canvas views tailored towards specific defect designs.

When editing a canvas view in the Designer app, select the 3-dot button and choose Make template.

Create from template

To create a canvas view from a template, open the Designer app, select Create item canvas and choose From template.

Manage templates

When a canvas view is converted to a template, it is moved to the Template item collection. By default, only items of the Live collection are shown in day-to-day operations.

To manage your template items, use the Advanced search panel of the Search window to filter results by collection.

Following last week's update to CausewayOne, we are releasing a hotfix update to Alloy Mobile that addresses the following issues:

• Android – unable to re-authenticate after session expired. Error: "JWT failed validation: IDX10223".
• iOS – unable to sign in on some devices. App crashes after entering account details.
• iOS – the Email field isn't visible on the sign-in screen when Dark Mode is enabled.

Alloy Mobile v3.0.1 will be available to download from Thursday 30th October.

The good news is that everything has now stabilised and following additional checks we’re ready to proceed. The migration will now take place this evening (Tuesday 21st October) between 8pm and 10pm (BST) for selected customers. Once complete, you’ll simply log in via https://one.causeway.com and you’ll see the refreshed CausewayOne design and experience as planned.

Alloy has a new name, a new look and a new home! There are also a few handy improvements to mention. The update took place during the evening of the 20th of October. For a full list of changes, see v3.0 in the Asset Management Changelog.

Welcome to CausewayOne Asset Management 🎨

Alloy has been renamed to CausewayOne Asset Management! It is now accessed primarily via the CausewayOne platform, where it can share data with our other applications. The user interface has also been completely restyled with a rounded purple design, which is consistent across all CausewayOne applications.

Most users have been migrated to CausewayOne and will be redirected automatically. Just enter your email address and follow the on-screen instructions. If you're an SSO user that signs in with corporate Google/Microsoft account, we're currently working with your IT Department to migrate you too – please standby!

For full details, including how to sign in on the web and Alloy Mobile, see our previous announcement.

New Primary and Satellite basemaps 🗺️

Everyone now has access to a new system basemap named Primary. This is the same basemap used in other applications of ours, such as CausewayOne Network. It provides a fine level of detail at any zoom level, with clearly outlined streets, buildings and locations of interest. Imagery is presented in a clear, comprehensible colour scheme that is similar to Google Maps.

Additionally, we have updated the Satellite basemap to a new provider. Street names are more legible, locations of interest are displayed more prominently, and major roads are now highlighted when zoomed out far enough.

The Skyward and Nightscape basemaps have now been retired. They remain available to existing users but will not be provided to newcomers.

Add app items to your favourites

When using the Asset Apps, you can now add things to your favourites. When viewing an item, simply select the star button in the item's header. Select it again to remove the item from your favourites.

Additionally, you can now add the following features to your favourites:

• boards
• lists
• hubs
• designs and interfaces
• item canvases
• item forms
• layers and basemaps

When you have a feature open in the relevant app, open the 3-dot menu (top-right) and choose Add to favourites or Remove from favourites as needed.

To access your favourites at any time, select the Search button in the white header bar, and then open the Favourites tab in the Search window.

We're excited to announce that Alloy is being incorporated into our CausewayOne platform! It joins many of our other software solutions, working together to provide a new era of data connectivity within the construction industry.

Connectivity has always been at the heart of Alloy. It connects assets with infrastructure, people with processes, and can integrate with various third-party services.

The move to CausewayOne lets us take this further, enabling new data flows and interoperability between all stages of the construction lifecycle. From planning and design, to workforce and supply chain management, to strategic and operational maintenance. CausewayOne provides tailored solutions that exist in one place and share common data. Improve efficiency by eliminating project fragmentation and data duplication. Automate like never before and gain access to a wealth of insights about your organisation's performance.

Don't be alarmed, nothing is changing about how Alloy works. Everything will continue functioning the same as it does today, so there shouldn't be any disruption to your operations. The only significant difference will be how you access the Alloy website.

New name

Alloy is being renamed to CausewayOne Asset Management. This will be evident throughout the service, though you may spot the original name in some places during the changeover.

New look

Alloy is being completely restyled to align with a shared Causeway design language. By adopting a unified look and feel across our software solutions, we intend to provide a clear and consistent experience that reduces friction and is simple to understand. As you explore other parts of CausewayOne, much of what you see will be familiar, making it easy to acclimatise and focus on the features available in other solutions.

This will affect the new Alloy Apps and the classic Alloy workspace. The changes are purely visual – everything will be in the same places and function in the same way. We're just making things look nicer! To give you an idea of what to expect, here's a work-in-progress screenshot.

New home

Alloy is moving to the CausewayOne platform. This will change how you access the new Alloy Apps and the classic Alloy workspace.

SSO users

If you always sign in to Alloy with a corporate Google or Microsoft account, you are an SSO user! Over the coming weeks, we will contact your organisation and work with them to migrate you to CausewayOne.

Therefore, please continue using alloyapp.io, enjoy the new look and await further communications from us or your IT Department.

Standard users

If you sign in to Alloy with a password, you are a standard user! Your account will automatically be migrated to CausewayOne. After the update, this is how you will sign in:

1. Visit one.causeway.com. If you visit alloyapp.io, you will be redirected automatically after entering your account email address. If your account isn't migrated to CausewayOne yet, you can sign in to alloyapp.io as before.
2. At the CausewayOne sign in page, enter your email address and select Sign in.
3. On first use, follow the on-screen instructions to verify your email address. You will then need to set a new password. It can be the same as your current one, providing it meets the new security requirements.
4. For subsequent sign ins, enter your new password when prompted.

Using Alloy in CausewayOne

To access Alloy in CausewayOne, select Asset Management in the left sidebar.

If the Alloy Apps are enabled for your organisation, you will see the Overview page, which lists the apps and classic features available to you. Otherwise, you will be taken to the Asset Classic page, which displays the classic Alloy workspace within CausewayOne.

The left panel also lists the apps and classic features available to you. Select one to open it on the right. If an app appears dimmed out in the list, it isn't currently enabled for your organisation or you personally. At the bottom of the left panel, you can access our Announcements and updated Help guides.

The white header bar displays the app title. Use the left button to show/hide the left panel when you need extra space. Use the right button to search your data within Asset Management, across all apps and features.

If you belong to multiple customer projects, select the Companies dropdown in the top purple bar to switch between them. To manage your account settings, select your initials in the top-right corner.

What about Alloy Mobile?

We have big plans for Alloy Mobile that will transform how field workers interact with Alloy on the go. This is currently being worked on and involves an ambitious reimagining of the app's layout and features.

Therefore, to keep things simple and minimise disruption to your operations, Alloy Mobile will keep its name and look for now. But expect to hear more in future about the evolution of Alloy on iPhones, iPads and Android devices!

If you're a mobile user, the only thing that will change is how you sign in.

SSO users

If you always sign in to Alloy Mobile with a corporate Google or Microsoft account, you are an SSO user! Over the coming weeks, we will contact your organisation and work with them to migrate you to CausewayOne.

Therefore, please continue using Alloy Mobile as before and await further communications from us or your IT Department.

Standard users

If you sign in to Alloy Mobile with a password, you are a standard user! Your account will automatically be migrated to CausewayOne. After the update, this is how you will sign in to Alloy Mobile:

1. At the login screen, enter your email address and select Next. The CausewayOne sign in page will appear. If your account isn't migrated to CausewayOne yet, you can continue to log in as before.
2. At the CausewayOne sign in page, enter your email address and select Sign in.
3. On first use, follow the on-screen instructions to verify your email address. You will then need to set a new password. It can be the same as your current one, providing it meets the new security requirements.
4. For subsequent sign ins, enter your new password when prompted.

When is this happening?

The update is scheduled for the 21st October 2025.

Standard users will be migrated to CausewayOne automatically. SSO users will be migrated in accordance with the wishes of your IT Department. We anticipate everybody being migrated by Christmas. As always, support is available via our Support Portal, or by reaching out directly to your existing Causeway contacts.

We're excited to bring you this bold new design and look forward to building more features and synergy with CausewayOne!

IT admins

If the Alloy Apps are enabled for your organisation, be aware that they will become prominently visible to all users. Currently, the Alloy Apps and Alloy Classic are only accessible via different URLs. In CausewayOne, everything is displayed in one place.

Therefore, please check that users have suitable app permissions set. Some may inadvertently have full access to all apps. Use the Permissions app to manage user memberships in bulk. To grant access to specific apps, add users to the relevant app group. To grant access to all apps, add users to the App Users group.

Users in the Admin group also have full app access.

This month’s update was delayed in order to test some significant backend changes. It’s now easier to find what you're looking for in the Alloy Apps and Workspaces has been renamed! The update took place during the evening of the 11th of September. For a full list of changes, see v2.75 in the Alloy Changelog.

Workspaces is now Hubs 📊

After careful deliberation, the Workspaces app has been renamed to Hubs!

Why? Because the app functions as a central information hub, pulling in data from various sources into a single location. It provides an overview of key data points across your organisation, displaying item counts, graphs, and item locations within mini maps. With one click, you can dive into a data point by opening its items in a relevant Alloy app, such as Maps or the Data Explorer.

Each hub you create provides a single place to view collated data and jump directly to the items you need to work with.

Therefore, the new name was chosen to better represent the app and what it does. If you're interested in learning how the Hubs app can benefit your organisation, contact Support and we'll help you get started!

Access favourites in the Alloy Apps ⭐

For quick and easy access to specific items, item forms, workflows and other features, you can add them to your favourites list. This provides a convenient way to jump directly to the things you use the most. It's also useful for bookmarking things that you may need to revisit later, without having to find them again!

You can now access your favourites in the Alloy Apps. Simply select the top search box and switch to the Favourites tab. As with all search results, you can select a favourite to open it directly, or hold the Ctrl key while selecting to open it in new browser tab.

Search other item collections 🗃️

In Alloy, items are stored in separate collections to distinguish between live, archived, inventory and template data.

Previously, when searching for items in the Alloy Apps, all collections were searched by default. While this produced a comprehensive set of results, most of the time you’re only interested in seeing active items. Therefore, only the Live collection is now searched by default.

To search items of other collections, select the Advanced search button and then the Query field.

In the AQS Builder, select the root node and then Collection. Select one or more in the list and then select Done. You can then select Apply in the Search window to filter the item results accordingly.

App URL changes 🚀

The Alloy Apps are currently being made available to organisations upon request.

To avoid any disruption, Alloy Classic remains the default for all users. After signing in to alloyapp.io, you’re always presented with the classic interface, regardless of whether the Alloy Apps are enabled for your organisation. This ensures that nobody is suddenly pushed into unfamiliar territory and can continue working as before.

When you’re ready to start using the Alloy Apps, you can visit a different URL to see the list of available apps, or visit an app’s URL to open it directly.

For technical reasons, these app URLs have now changed as follows. The old URLs now redirect to the new ones, so any existing bookmarks or shared links should still work. However, we recommend updating to the new URLs where possible.

This month, we've added attributes to the Jobs interface, drag-and-drop item attachments to the Alloy Apps and a new button to the Maps app. The update took place during the evening of the 31st of July. For a full list of changes, see v2.74 in the Alloy Changelog.

Upload attachments in the Alloy Apps 📎

You can upload files to Alloy and attach them to items for easy reference. Photos are great for recording an asset's condition, especially when reporting a defect or documenting completed work. It can also be useful to store documents containing instructions, procedures or diagrams related to an item.

When viewing an item in the Alloy Apps, you can now upload a file attachment directly to the item. Simply drag the file over the item's canvas and release it over the Upload file zone that appears. Alternatively, open the top-right Item Menu and select Attach.

The uploaded file will appear in the item's Gallery section, where you can preview images and manage the item's attachments.

Create items in the Maps app 🗺️

The Maps app lets you view the location and geometry of your items, superimposed over basemap imagery. You can browse the items within a particular area, measure distances and select items to view their details in an unobtrusive side panel.

We've added a handy Create item button to the bottom-left corner, enabling you to create new items of any design (regardless of which layers are enabled), without having to open another Alloy app. A small but valuable addition!

Display URLs in item forms 🌐

When configuring the properties of a Text attribute, you can tag it as a Url. If you add a Text input control for the attribute on an item form, it will now display a globe button when viewing/editing a relevant item in the Alloy Apps. This opens the URL in a new browser tab.

We've also added a new Text URL Label control, which lets you include a URL on an item form without having to add an attribute to the relevant design/interface.

Job Budgets and Total Costs 💰

We've made a couple of changes to the Jobs interface:

• Two new attributes named Total Estimated Cost and Total Actual Cost. They display the sum of the Estimated Cost and Actual Cost attributes on all job work items belonging to the job. The totals are automatically computed whenever a job work item is added, edited or removed. They aren't shown when creating/editing a job, or when the job has no job work items.
  
  
• A new Budget attribute. When set or unset, it will overwrite the Budget attribute on all job work items belonging to the job. The Estimated Cost or Actual Cost of each job work item is then deducted from the value of the relevant budget period (if defined), based on the job's most relevant Date Time attribute, e.g. Raised Time.
  
  While it's still possible to set the Budget attribute separately on individual job work items, bear in mind that they can be overwritten if the budget is set for the whole job.

These changes will affect all new job items going forward. Your existing job items will be unaffected until they're next edited. We don't expect any negative side effects but as always, contact Support if you experience any issues.

Populate standard path placeholders ➡️ ↘️ ↗️ 

Designs and interfaces can have standard paths, which are shortcuts to attributes on connected designs/interfaces (reachable via the Pathfinder).

On interfaces only, it's possible for a standard path to have no path! This is an abstract standard path. It serves as a placeholder shortcut that only describes the type and design/interface of the target attribute.

If designs implement the interface, they must override the abstract standard path with a real path, which can be different on each design. If other interfaces implement the interface, the override is optional. This provides a single point of reference that workflows, reports and other Alloy features can use to target an attribute connected to multiple designs/interfaces, even if the path from each one is different!

In the Designer app, when adding an interface with abstract placeholders to a design, you will now be prompted to set a path for each one to continue. If using Alloy Classic, the operation will fail with a descriptive error message.

Summer is starting 🌞 and we've got some good stuff lined up for you, including several new Alloy App features and a plethora of miscellaneous improvements and fixes. The update took place during the evening of the 26th of June. For a full list of changes, see v2.73 in the Alloy Changelog.

Filter the items on a board ▼

The Boards app lets you display items of a design/interface, grouped into columns according to the value they hold for a target attribute. Dragging an item between columns changes its attribute value accordingly. This provides a great way to visualise and manage the state or progress of those items.

For example, the board below targets the Teams attribute on the Waste Jobs design. It has a column for each team, plus an "Unconnected" column for items where the attribute is empty. Allocate jobs by dragging them from this column into a team column (an event workflow automatically updates the job status to "Issued").

But what about jobs that are cancelled or on hold? You don't want them appearing on the board.

Well, you can now edit the board's underlying query to filter the items shown! When creating or editing the board, select Filter query. Use the AQS Builder to add any number of conditions that items must fulfil to appear, e.g. only fetch items whose Status attribute is "Proposed" and "Issued".

Create items in Data Explorer ➕

The new Data Explorer app provides many quality-of-life enhancements over Alloy Classic, including improved tab management, simplified attribute selection and linked item previews. The new floating toolbar makes it easy to perform various actions on the current query or selected items.

In response to user feedback, we've added a new Create item button to the floating toolbar. This provides a quick way to create an item that fits the current query. The Item Creator window will suggest one or more relevant designs, depending on whether the query targets a design or interface.

Customisable map widgets 🗺️

The Workspaces app lets you create dashboards that collate data from multiple sources, providing key information at a glance and quick access to those sources from one convenient place.

A workspace has a number of widgets containing a number of query data points. Each data point displays an item count and can be opened in a relevant Alloy app, making it easy to work with those item sets in various ways.

If a widget has Show map enabled, its data point items are displayed on a customisable map area. You can set the underlying basemap and select any additional layers to display alongside the data point items, providing geographical context to your data.

It's now possible to define the bounding box of a map widget! Draw a box to define the initial area displayed by the map. This ensures that the widget is always focused on what's important when the workspace is opened. Users can then zoom and pan around as needed.

Create item canvas views from a template 📋→🆕

The item canvas is foundational to the Alloy Apps. When you open an item, its details are displayed across multiple item canvas sections. Each section displays a distinct set of data or a list of related items. Thanks to its flexible grid layout, the item canvas can shrink to fit the available space, or expand to show more information at once.

The Designer app lets admins create custom item canvas views for specific designs/interfaces. This provides full control over the visibility, ordering and configuration of canvas sections shown for corresponding items. Multiple canvas views can be created for a single design/interface, which users can switch between according to their preference or circumstance.

You can now create an item canvas view from a template! Once a canvas view is moved to the Template collection, it can serve as the basis for other canvas views. This makes it easy to reuse established layouts and quickly produce canvas views for related designs/interfaces.

For example, you could create a canvas view for the Jobs interface, which would apply to all job items. You could then use it as a template for creating similar canvas views that are tailored to specific job designs.

Default AQS parameters

Whenever you need to create a query in Alloy, the AQS Builder appears to help you. Whether you're familiar with database query languages or not, anyone can use this tool to leverage the power of AQS and fetch data with precision.

In many scenarios, the AQS Builder now provides one or more default parameters. A parameter is a placeholder that is substituted with a value when the query runs. By including one of these in a query (or a parameter you've defined yourself), it's possible for the query to fetch different data in different contexts:

• Current item ID – available when editing the query of an item form control. It represents the ID of the item being viewed or edited via the item form. This can be used to fetch items related to that item, enabling fields on the form to display context-sensitive lookup results.
   
• Current user ID - available in most scenarios where it makes sense. It represents the ID of the currently signed in user. This can be used to fetch items related to that user.
  
  For example, the query below fetches all jobs assigned to teams the user belongs to. For each job, it navigates to the related team, then its team members, then their users, and compares each user's ID with the Current user ID parameter.

We hope you've been enjoying all the recent Bank Holidays! 🌞 We've been onboarding the first Alloy Apps users and listening to their initial feedback. Lots of positive vibes but there are always ways to improve things, so we're keen to hear your thoughts!

Work is continuing on the Permissions app, with this month's focus being on new features that make user management much simpler and easier to perform. The update took place during the evening of the 29th of May. For a full list of changes, see v2.72 in the Alloy Changelog.

Please note: we are delaying the update of Alloy Mobile by one week. This is just a precautionary measure to make sure it's compatible with a recent foundational change to Alloy's engine.

Manage users in the Permissions app 👤

We've added a new User Management area to the Permissions app! If you're an admin, this provides a view of all the users in your customer project, where you can see all their properties at once. You can filter and sort the columns as needed, making it easy to isolate and group users by email address or membership.

Select a user's  >  button to show their details in a side panel. This provides a way to easily manage their membership of teams, groups and roles. You can also disable or delete the user as needed.

Need to manage users in bulk? Just select one or more users in the left list and then use the bottom toolbar to add or remove them from teams, groups or roles.

Finally, we've added a new Create User wizard to streamline the process of adding new people to your customer project.

New DesignProperty AQS node 🗄️

A new node type has been added to Alloy Query Syntax. This doesn't happen often! Currently, it can only be used via the API, or when editing code in the Advanced Query Editor of the AQS Builder.

The new DesignProperty node lets you filter queried items based on properties of their design. For now, the node has one property: Implements. It can be used in conjunction with a Guc node to filter items based on whether their design does - or doesn't – implement one or more specific interfaces.

    {
  "type": "Equals",
  "children": [
    {
      "type": "DesignProperty",
      "properties": {
        "designPropertyName": "Implements"
       }
    },
    {
      "type": "Guc",
      "properties": {
        "value": ["designInterfaces_MyExampleInterface_67f67"]
      }
    }
  ]
    }

Seasoned API users may be aware of the Design endpoint, which can return a list of designs that implement a single interface (see ReDoc). The new DesignProperty node makes this functionality more available by bringing it to all scenarios that involve AQS. It also improves upon it by letting you negate it and specify multiple interfaces when needed.

Following the successful launch of the Alloy Apps last month, we've been working on a number of improvements and fixes for them. Here are a couple of highlights! The update took place during the evening of the 24th of April. For a full list of changes, see v2.71 in the Alloy Changelog.

Going forward, we'll be concentrating our efforts on enhancing and expanding the Alloy Apps, as they represent the future of Alloy. Don't worry, the classic Alloy Web interface isn't going anywhere yet and will continue to receive updates! However, the development of new features and overall evolution of the service will be focused towards the apps from now on.

The Alloy Apps are initially being made available only to organisations that request access. If you'd like to opt in, please contact Support!

View item details on small screens 📱

The Item Viewer in the apps is designed with smaller screens in mind. The customisable canvas sections – plus the new grid layout of item forms – enables content to be automatically adjusted for different screen sizes.

In some apps, the Item Viewer is displayed as a resizable side panel. You can change its width to suit your preference and the available screen space, ranging from Large (1000px) to Extra small (400px).

However, some mobile devices have very small screens! Looking at you, iPhone SE... 👀 Therefore, we've added an Extra extra small (270px) width, which hides some elements in order to fit on-screen. You're also protected from selecting widths that are too big.

Open the target DoDI of a Link attribute ➡️🎯

The new Designer app provides an optimised layout for configuring your designs and interfaces. Link attributes are now listed in their own section, which you can jump to by selecting the corresponding button on the right.

Link attributes now display a D button, which lets you quickly open the design/interface targeted by the attribute. To open it in a new tab, use middle-click or Ctrl-click.

Custom Link attributes (added by your organisation) display a 3-dot menu instead, which also gives you the ability to remove the attribute as needed.

Clone a user group 👤

Alloy has a robust Permissions system that lets admins control who has access to what! It involves adding users to one or more groups (directly or via an assigned role). Each user group defines a set of permissions for accessing specific objects in one or more feature categories, e.g. designs, interfaces, layers, item forms, workflows.

Additionally, admins can filter the items available to user groups by creating access policies for specific designs and interfaces.  

It's now possible to clone a user group via the API, by copying its permissions and access policies onto a new group. You no longer need to redefine everything from scratch! To learn more, see ReDoc and Swagger.

This functionality will be utilised by the upcoming Permissions app, which will provide new ways of working with permissions, access policies and user accounts. Subscribe to these announcements to stay informed!