2023 release notes

December 2023

Improvements

  • App status reason: The last reason entered when setting an app status is displayed on the app view and can be viewed for all Applications as an optional column.
  • Duplicate workflow task: For creating a set of similar tasks from a workflow, a 'duplicate' option is available in the workflow editor task step. 

Fixes

  • Renewal notification 'Notice periods' and 'Recipients' (in Settings > Notifications) are now properly saved.
  • Workflow UX has been refined to reduce excess clicks into subflows and groups steps.
  • On the Applications list, custom fields are now searchable from the 'Choose columns' drawer
  • The export of the Trelica Users list now shows a consistent status with the page view.
  • The master Audit Log was showing erroneous "Field status changed from 'Delete' to 'Active'" events during nightly integrations refreshes. These events have been removed.
  • On a 'No response' branch in a workflow, the time waited for is now correctly displayed.

November 2023

New notifications system

  • The notifications system has been significantly overhauled. Customers have been automatically transitioned to the new system. If your notifications have customized wording then you will not yet see the new settings under Admin > Settings > Notifications. Reach out to your Customer Success team contact and they can help you move over.
  • Advantages: a simpler configuration panel, a cleaner email template, better batching when multiple notifications get sent, a view of sent notifications, and notifications to Slack as well as email.
  • Task notifications can be directly responded to in the sent email or Slack message.

Improvements

  • Platform filter on the assets list: you can now filter assets more easily to Windows, macOS, Linux etc.
  • Browser Extension report: the risk scoring mechanism has been enhanced to add a Critical score for some high risk permissions (primarily 'all URL' or equivalent permissions on Cookies and Web requests). There is now a link to the CRXcavator site for more detailed analysis.
  • Entra ID: Azure AD has been renamed in line with Microsoft's rebranding of the product.
  • Transfer group ownership: Google Workspace now supports moving the owner of a group from one person - especially useful during offboarding.
  • Closed apps during offboarding: tasks are no longer raised for apps that are marked Closed during offboarding.

Fixes

  • There is better support where multiple Okta app instances have been mapped to a single app in Trelica. This used to lead to issues where the provisioning status was shown incorrectly. Clicking the Sources link on the app profile page now shows full details of the mapped instances.
  • Users detected accessing applications via SAML used to (in some circumstances) be treated as Paid users. This behavior has been removed.
  • Various fixes to the workflow message editors relating to inserting, copying and pasting merge fields.
  • A significant set of changes to access requests is being released in December. The foundations for this was interfering slightly with existing access requests (creating additional tasks). This has been fixed.
  • The Slack channel list in the Send message workflow list no longer returns archived channels, and shows a more complete list.

October 2023

Improvements

  • Workflow UXWorkflows is now displayed on the main menu (removed from 'Admin' submenu), and on the banner on the main Dashboard. Workflow list and Workflow runs list styling, column labels and options have been adjusted to aid navigation between them.
  • Workflow actions not enabled: In the workflow editor, the 'Add step' dialog suggests steps that require additional integration features enabling, with a link to enable them.
  • Filter buttons show selected filter: Filter buttons throughout Trelica (Applications inventory, People directory, Workflows list, etc) show the label of the selected option or a count of selected options, so that it's easier to see what filters have been applied to a list.
  • App utilization: Number of 'Engaged users' and 'Utilization %' per app can be shown as optional columns on the Applications inventory, so that it's easy to compare utilization between apps.
  • Browser extension utilization: Browser extension settings shows proportion of employees and contractors using the Trelica browser extension. For more detail, the Extension deployment report shows which extension each person is using and when it last synced.

Fixes

  • The total contract value displayed on Licenses and the license tab for each app now excludes all licenses outside of their date range. For example, a license that has past renewal date with auto-renew checked will no longer be included in the total value.
  • Transaction list displays the correct instance for any mapped apps with multiple instances.
  • User offboarding tasks no longer contain the URL of the associated app (as it can be very long) and dedupe the assignee, in the event that the same person has two roles for the app.
  • The browser extension now tracks last user activity against itself ('Trelica Browser Extension') in the Applications inventory.
  • Last login and role columns can be displayed on app user lists when there's no data.
  • App owners can now assign tasks to other people.
  • Any user with the ability to edit an app can map an 'unidentified user' (one with no email address) to a person.

September 2023

Time zone support

  • Trigger workflows based on a person's time zone: 'Person joins' and 'Person leaves' workflow triggers can now run at a time specific to a person's local time zone. 'Wait' steps can also be specified to run at a local time zone. For example, during onboarding you could wait until 7am local time on the person's first day and then send them an email, or offboarding can start at 5pm local time, regardless of whether the user is based in Tokyo or San Francisco.
  • Person, location and organization time zones: A person's time zone can be manually assigned on their Person profile page, read from an HR or IdP source, or will be derived from the time zone set for their assigned location, falling back to the organization default (assigned under Settings > Organization > Organization Profile).

Grouped notifications

  • Task and workflow email notifications are now grouped and batched to reduce the number of emails you receive.

Improved alias handling

  • Unusual aliases: Previously Trelica would accept any aliases supplied by an integration (e.g. marketing@ or a line manager). This caused confusion by linking up essentially unrelated people profiles. An alias that does not appear to relate directly to a user is not automatically assigned going forwards, and requires manual confirmation on the person's profile page.
  • Email address changes: If the email address for an account ID changes significantly (e.g. from jane.doe@ to integrations@) then a new person profile is created, or the assigned person changed, rather than an alias being added. Email address changes from HR systems or IdPs are still accepted, and an alias added as before, but an audit message is logged.
  • '+' emails: Anything from the '+' character onwards in email addresses is now ignored. Previously jane.doe+test@ and jane.doe@ would have been treated as two separate person identities.

August 2023

Workflows

  • Owners: When editing a workflow you can now assign owners. Workflow owners will now receive alerts and messages relating to workflows, rather than all admins. If no owners are assigned, admins will still be notified.
  • Email error notifications: Owners will now be sent emails if there are errors in workflows that they own.
  • Person field type: A new field type has been added which lets you pick a person. For example you could send a Slack form to ask who should receive Google resources during offboarding. Depending on the context, if you select 'Field value' for a person field, you can pick an application role, a person related to an asset or another person (e.g. to assign an Asana task to an application owner).
  • Lookup tables: In a 'person' context, location, job title, organization unit or team can be used directly to select from lookup tables.
  • Wait actions: Wait actions relative to a date used to be specific to 'person' contexts. Now any workflow can wait until a date relative to the start of the workflow run, or the start of the current step.
  • Trigger conversion: on demand workflow triggers can now be converted to leaver / joiner workflow triggers and vice versa.

Assets

  • Device locking: Intune, Jamf and Kandji now support device locking. You will need to modify the integration settings to enable these.
  • Assigned assets: In workflows you can now include a field in email and Slack notifications listing the assets assigned to someone (e.g. a leaver). There is also now a 'Filter assets' action which you can combine with an email notification to send an Excel attachment of assigned assets.
  • API endpoints: The assets API endpoints are now out of beta and available for use. New API scopes for reading or writing assets are available.
  • Dell TechDirect integration: You can connect to Dell TechDirect (under Integrations) to retrieve purchase and warranty expiration dates. Support for Lenovo is coming shortly.

Locations

  • Location management: Locations used to be read in from assets and be assignable to assets. This has been extended to data from HR sources. Under Settings > Organization > Locations you can now map locations together to unify location data between people and assets. This will be used in forthcoming features.

Miscellaneous improvements

  • Speed: The app list and app user list load faster with very high data volumes.
  • Okta webhook support: Workflows now support Okta's webhook URL verification process. This can be used to trigger immediate offboarding.
  • Integration status messages: Where users or apps cannot be imported more information is given. Integration statuses and naming is reflected more consistently.
  • Microsoft 365 email actions: A new Microsoft 365 Email integration provider lets you manage forwarding and other email related actions.   
  • Workflow run 'spike' checks: A confirmation request is sent to workflow owners if more than 100 workflow runs are triggered in one go. This will now apply if more than 50% of the total objects to which the workflow applies are affected (e.g. people, users, apps or assets).

July 2023

People improvements

  • New layout: The person view has a new layout, including a profile section, timeline showing start and termination date, and tabs showing the person's Applications, Groups and Assets. Go to the People directory and click any person to view.
  • Personal details: Personal email, phone and home address can be tracked. This information may be useful when onboarding and offboarding an employee. For example, the home address can be used in a workflow to email shipping or collection details for an employee's assets.
  • Source details: View the source of any field (start date, line manager, etc) by hovering on it and clicking 'Source details' from the tooltip. Where multiple integrations such as an HR tool and IDP are connected, this will show the data coming from each system for that field.
  • Person type rules: The logic for determining person type (Employee, Contractor, External or Service account) is adjustable from Settings > People > Person type rules. For example, if service accounts are created with an email address in a particular format, you could create a rule to automatically set the type based on this.

Improvements

  • Organising workflows: Add tags and set owners of your workflows to organise them. To add tags from the Workflows list, in the context menu (...) for a workflow, select 'Add tag' to add the first tag; thereafter tag workflows in line. Tags can be filtered and searched on.
  • Bulk edit apps: In addition to status and app owner, you can now bulk edit any app details or roles from the Applications inventory. Select several apps and click the 'edit' icon in the toolbar.
  • Replace / remove a terminated app owner by selecting all the apps the person owns and removing the person from the bulk edit dialog. Role assignees can be removed without clearing other assignees.
  • Vendor contacts: From Settings > Applications > Roles, enable 'Show vendor contact' to manage contacts for the corresponding vendor from the app view 'Roles' area. These contacts can be included in renewal reminder emails.
  • Assets with multiple integration sources: A single asset can now get data from multiple integration sources. To see source detail for any asset field, hover on it and click 'Source details' from the tooltip.
  • Export a workflow run: View any workflow run and select ‘Export’ from the context menu (...) to download an Excel table of workflow steps. This can be useful for creating a separate record for audit purposes.

Fixes

  • Assigning a task to a person who is not a Trelica user will now invite that person to Trelica with the default role (as defined in Settings > Users) if none is specified.
  • The Users list no longer shows the same users on multiple pages.
  • The 'App owner' Trelica user view shows only apps the user has a role for or (if enabled) apps from the App Hub. Any app roles are displayed and are filterable.

June 2023

Invoiced v Expensed spend

Many organizations have their main IT spend invoiced centrally through a finance department; whilst more minor spend (typically personal tools, low-cost or team-specific apps) is paid for on credit cards and expensed. The split between Invoiced and Expensed spend can now be seen and analysed in Trelica.

To get started, enable the feature under Settings > Spend > 'Show spend as Expensed or Invoiced'.

  • Import expenses: Either manually import transactions with an 'Expensed by' person (name or email), or contact support to have your expense system integration updated (Expensify, Ramp and Brex) to import this automatically.
  • Analyse Invoiced v Expensed split: The spend dashboard shows the split of monthly spend. This can be analysed and charted on in the Spend insight or by viewing the spend tab for a specific app.
  • 'Top expensed apps': This chart on the spend dashboard shows apps most expensed by spend or number of transactions. Consider moving these to a centrally invoiced contract for potential bulk savings and better oversight.
  • 'Overlapping expenses': This sortable table on the spend dashboard shows apps being both invoiced and expensed. Consider incorporating these expenses into the existing contract for potential savings, access to upgraded licenses and easier administration.

Lookup tables in workflows

  • Create lookup tables: create lookup tables that map text values to other text values, groups, teams, or a person type. Edit individual rows, or swiftly export to the clipboard, paste to a spreadsheet, edit, and paste back into Trelica.
  • Reference lookup tables in workflow steps: This allows you to map (for instance) a role or location for a new starter to one or more Google Groups, or to a Google organization unit. 
  • Set field value action: This lets you set a field value based on a lookup table or a merge field. 

Task improvements

  • Easier creation of tasks in external applications: Tasks in other applications, e.g. Jira Service Mangement, Asana, Linear, Zendesk, Freshdesk, Freshservice, can be created from workflows without first having to create a Trelica task.
  • Task reference and link available as fields: a link to a task can be included in email, Slack and Teams messages.
  • Enhanced ticket actions in Jira: The integration now allows you to update tickets, transition to different states, add comments, and set resolutions.
  • Dates can now be relative to other actions: A task can be given a due date relative to (say) the start date of a person, the date the workflow started, or the data the specific step ran.  
  • Set a temporary context in workflows: Not specific to tasks, but this is useful where the primary context for the workflow is (say) a task, but you want to notify an application owner.

Other enhancements

  • Task types reorganised: There are now five main task types: Basic, App review, Provisioning, Deprovisioning, Integration. Filter by these to segment your to-do list.
  • Saved views with sort: Saved views on Applications, People, Assets and Tasks can save sort order.
  • Add to multiple groups: The Add to group workflow step now lets you add to multiple groups in one go.
  • Detect password manager use and MFA use: The Browser Extension now reports where a password manager has been used to log in (where possible the manager used), and if multi-factor authentication was used.
  • Additional options for first and last name formatting when creating users in workflows: spaces can be treated as dots or hyphens.

Fixes

  • Transactions can be edited (e.g. add a note, upload a file) when not matched to an app.
  • Serial number conflicts are handled by the asset import tool.

May 2023

Task management enhancements

  • Grouping: Tasks on the task list can now be grouped up by Application or by Person.
  • Inline editing: Assigned to, due date and status can now be edited directly within the page.
  • Multi-select: tasks and groups of tasks can now be selected and attributes changed in bulk.

Workflows

  • 'API Webhook' trigger: Workflows can now expose an HTTP end-point. An HTTP POST to the endpoint will run the workflow. Posted JSON data can be mapped to fields in to the workflow. This allows you for example to run an automation from a Jira case to automatically assign applications to a user. 
  • Limit to first N matches: Workflows using the 'Application meets', 'Person meets', 'User meets' or 'Asset meets' criteria triggers can now be run for a limited number of matches to make it easier to run smaller test batches before enabling.
  • Workflow trigger conversion: You can now convert workflow triggers, e.g. 'On demand' triggers can be converted to 'API Webhook', or 'meets criteria' triggers and vice versa.  
  • 'Add to groups' step: Now supports multiple group selection (in line with the group pickers on 'Provision user' and 'Remove users'.

Microsoft 365 improvements

  • Microsoft Teams messaging from workflows: There is a separate integration for this, as the user who connects the integration is shown as the sender of the message. Because of this we recommend creating a new Trelica user in Microsoft 365 and connecting with this account.
  • Usage location: This is required when assigning certain Microsoft 365 licences and this can now be specified when creating users. There is also now a specific workflow action for setting this.

Other enhancements

  • Spend mapping rules: Previously rules were purely based on the transaction description. You can now map based on multiple criteria including Cost center and Notes.
  • Filter People by source: You can now filter the People list by source (e.g. to find all identities from a particular application or identity provider). This also applies in workflow filters for 'Person meets crtieria', e.g. in order to perform actions in various applications for all users from a particular identity provider.
  • Safari Browser extension: this can be installed from the Apple App Store.
  • Multiple Slack or Microsoft Teams instances: If you have multiple Slack or Teams instances connected Trelica will automatically pick the correct instances to send messages to.
  • 'MFA status' is now shown more prominently on the app user list, rather than the person details panel, and can be filtered.

Fixes

  • A number of inconsistencies when using the 'Offboard person from apps' workflow step have been resolved. Tasks are now automatically created where Okta is not using SCIM to offboard a user or where an OAuth token is revoked for an application in the Managed status.
  • The 'Test step' button on the joiner and leaver workflow triggers now better represents upcoming actions.
  • The Browser Extension now picks up clicks on 'Sign in with Google' or 'Sign in with Microsoft' buttons on websites. This means that more accurate data can be collected for OAuth logins that from Google or Microsoft 365 (which only return when the OAuth token was generated).
  • Some custom field types were not fully supported when creating external tasks in Jira, Zendesk, Asana, Freshdesk, Freshservice and Linear. All field types are now supported.

April 2023

Workflow improvements

  • 'Person field changed' trigger: You can run a workflow when someone's name, job title, line manager or team changes. Previous and current values are available for use in emails and Slack messages.
  • 'Person leaves' trigger: Manual approval is enabled by default - admin users are notified by email. The person type field is now multi-select to let you apply the same workflow to Employees and Contractors.
  • 'Application discovered' trigger: This trigger has been simplified and made easier to use - you can now choose one or more Sources (e.g. Browser extension or Google Workspace) and a minimum number of users or spend that will trigger the workflow run.
  • Bulk retry: Workflows that have failed can be retried en-masse using the Multi-edit menu option on the workflow run list.
  • Create external tasks: Support has been added to create tasks in Asana, Linear and Freshservice, and for each application to update Trelica when tasks are completed.
  • Retry option when sending emails: When a role is referenced for an email recipient (e.g. 'Person's line manager'), if that person does not exist, then the workflow will now pause and let you enter an alternative email, before retrying the step.

Gmail actions for Google Workspace

Note that these action require Domain-wide delegation enabled in Google Workspace.

  • Vacation responder messages: Set and unset automated response emails for users.
  • Email forwarding: Set the mailbox to auto foward a user's email.
  • Delegated access: Grant a user access to another user's mailbox.
  • Set email signature: Define a user's email signature. This is useful during onboarding and in conjuction with the 'Person field changed' trigger (e.g. to update signatures when a job title changes).

Physical asset improvements

  • 'Asset meets criteria' trigger: Workflow runs can now be triggered based on assets meeting specified filter criteria. Asset specific actions have been added to JumpCloud and other asset data sources will follow later.
  • Import from Excel / CSV: Asset data can now be imported from a spreadsheet.

March 2023

App view refresh

The app page has an updated design and layout. The new version aims to help focus on the most useful information about the app, as well as give a fresher look and feel.

From the Applications inventory, click any app to see its Overview:

  • Customise app profile: Give context to how each app is used in your organization by customising the name and description. From the app’s main context menu (...), click ‘Edit profile’.
  • Role up: App roles are now displayed at the top of the app view. Click to edit and reorder; the first place owner can be used for reporting – for example, total spend by app owner in the Spend insight.
  • Next steps: Each app now shows recommended next steps where relevant. These include prompts to connect an integration, import user data, and renewal reminders.

Browser extension improvements

The browser extension can significantly increase coverage of business apps discovered and tracked, by reaching more users and being login method-agnostic. We’ve refined detection and expanded options for deployment.

To enable the extension for your organization, toggle it on in Browser extension settings.

  • Firefox extension: In addition to Chrome and Edge, there is now an extension for Firefox.
  • Identify users without logging in: The extension can identify an end user without them needing to log in to Trelica. This reduces friction in deployment. Identity can be determined from their Chrome or Edge profile, or from their Windows profile by centrally deploying a Windows helper. These unauthenticated options can collectively be enabled from Browser extension settings > ‘User identification’ section.
  • Detect login events: In addition to monitoring for login URLs of business apps, the extension can detect business login events. 
  • Report installed extensions: The Browser extensions report shows other extensions in use, by whom / how many users, and on which browsers. This can help spot popular or risky extensions.

Improvements

  • Create app from spend transaction: Easily create a new app from the Transactions list if a relevant app does not already exist. In the Application picker on a transaction or rule, type the name of the app and click 'Create new'.
  • Maximum workflow wait increased to 90 days: Maximum wait time in the ‘Wait’ step in Workflows is been increased from 30 to 90 days.
  • Workflow approval threshold: Scheduled workflows that would trigger more than 100 runs now require an approval. This is a safety mechanism to prevent accidental unwanted changes and notifications. Admins will receive an email notification when this approval is needed.
  • App user import more flexible: The user list import now handles columns representing individual roles and statuses e.g. ‘Admin’ or ‘Is active’ - Yes / No. It also detects the date format and various null keywords automatically. 
  • See terminated people with Assets: From the Assets list, select 'Terminated assignees' (top right) to view assets that haven't been returned. It’s also possible to set an asset assignee to be a terminated person, if necessary.
  • Export user emails to Google Drive via Google Vault: Export user emails from Gmail to a specified Google Workspace Shared Drive using Google Vault. This is useful for offboarding of Google Workspace users when keeping an Archived User licence for them is not desirable – typically due to cost. (Requires a Google Workspace subscription including Google Vault.)

Fixes

  • Deactivating an Okta user in Trelica leaves that person's other deleted user records as is, rather than set them to inactive. 
  • License utilisation is displayed for 'Renewed' licenses, the renewal start date of which is in the future.
  • App instance names are visible in application picklists, such as when creating a new spend rule.
  • Data sources show on the Spend page when there are no transactions to be reviewed.
  • Spend rules which 'Exclude' transactions can now be created again.

February 2023

Improvements

  • Deeper spend analysis: The spend insight now supports two levels of data breakdown. For example, report on app owners' monthly spend by selecting breakdown 1: 'App owner'; breakdown 2: 'Month'. Views can then be saved and optionally shared with colleagues.
  • Security reports: Track security reports such as SOC 2, ISO 27001 for each app. These can then be filtered on in the app list (In 'More filters' and 'Advanced filters'), or checked in workflows (Trigger: 'App meets criteria') to monitor key apps lacking a particular standard.
  • Personal email for onboarding: Personal emails is now available as a field on each person, and can it be populated from integrations: this is useful for sending an employee onboarding details prior to their receiving a company email.   

Fixes

  • Users with non-ASCII characters in their names (e.g é, ñ, Æ) can now upload files.

January 2023

Slack forms

A workflow can now send forms to people or channels in Slack, to which they can respond directly in Slack. This could be used to find out why an app is being used, gather feedback on a new tool or collecting licensing information from app owner, for example.

To set up, add the 'Send Slack form' step to your workflow.

  • People and channels: Send the form to an individual person, people, private or public channels. 
  • Form-at: Define a message and your form questions in the workflow step. Question formats include text, number, date and multiple-choice options.
  • Responding: Messages to people will appear from 'Trelica' (under 'Apps'), with a 'Respond' button at the end of the message to open the form in a dialog.
  • Submitting: When your respondent hits 'Submit', their responses will be appear in the workflow run view. Reponses can't be changed once sent.
  • Logic based on responses: Each form question is a workflow 'field', meaning the data can then be used in the workflow: it could determine the next branching step based on the response to a multiple choice question, or send a Slack message to another team member containing a summary of the response.

Improvements

  • Two-state tasks: By default, tasks are now either Open or Closed ('New' and 'Resolved' statuses removed).
  • Explore and share a person's apps: The 'Applications' tab for each person now has a range of options: filters, choose columns, save a view and export. This allows you to create and share useful views for colleagues and auditors.

Fixes

  • The audit log for licenses assigned / unassigned via integrations shows only actual changes, rather than all requested changes. For example, if the system tried to unassign a license for a user which the user didn't have, this would not be listed as an event.
  • The 'status' filter on the Person list now matches consistently with the status displayed for each person.
  • The start date for a person now comes exclusively from the configured Lifecycle source, which must supply an explicit date.
  • If 'To' and 'CC' of an email being sent by workflow are the same, the CC is ignored and the workflow step runs successfully.
  • Slack message and form steps adjusted to prevent / handle issues in certain scenarios (including, when help text in a form is removed, or multi-choice questions having no options).

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