… setting Post-Determination information for determined departures
To accompany the introduction of the new Post-Determination Phase of the departures process, there is a new Post-Determination section within determined departures. This will enable us to build accurate records of the implementation of departures across the network.
This information is populated by the Project Manager, and is available to view for all other users.  The information states if the departure was incorporated for each location, the realised cost-benefit of the departure, the confidentiality of the departure, and any additional comments.  This is now mandatory for all determined departures.

When a departure has been determined, where necessary the Project Manager can now re-assign the role of Project Manager to a different Project Manager to assist the completion of Post-Determination.

To learn more about Post-Determination, please read the FAQs via the Help Page, watch the YouTube tutorial here, or review Sections 3 and 6 of the Departures Manual .  Please contact the DAS Admin team if you have any further queries.

… renaming “Added Value” to “Cost Benefit”
“Added Value” has been renamed to “Cost Benefit” to align with the terminology used in the Departures Manual.

… determined departures are now excluded from the home page filters
Following the DAS 2.0 migration, there is an increased number of departures in DAS 3.0.  As a result, determined departures are now excluded from the filters on the home page to ensure that it is focused on open departure applications. 

Determined departures can be viewed by using the Search functionality.  To learn more about how to use Search, please watch the YouTube tutorial here.

… Reason Codes for departures that have been rejected or sent for rework
It is now mandatory to assign a Reason Code when a departure is rejected or sent for rework.  If an Authorising Signatory recommends rejection, they will select a suggested Reason Code for the Project Manager which reflect the reason for their decision.  It is possible to select multiple Reason Codes.  The definitions of the Reason Codes can be found in the Departures Manual Appendix D.

Reason Codes provide standardised reasons why departures have been rejected or sent for rework.  This helps to quantify and monitor the cause for rework and rejections, and in future can be used to improve the application process. 

… Designers and Proposers can now request Provisional Agreement
Designer and Proposers can now request Provisional Agreement via a ‘Request Provisional Agreement’ button.  This can be requested before the application has been submitted and will prompt the user to send an email directly to the Technical Specialist. 

Provisional Agreement can only be given for a departure that is critical to scheme delivery, and therefore has a Departure Criticality of 3, 4 or 5. 

The Project Manager must always be aware and agree that you are intending to seek Provisional Agreement prior to initiating the process. Discussion is encouraged with Technical Specialists as part of the Risk Management process of the scheme, the departures should be known to the Technical Specialist prior to Provisional Agreement being sought.

To learn how to request Provisional Agreement watch the YouTube tutorial here.

To learn how to respond to a request for Provisional Agreement, watch the YouTube tutorial here.

… create ‘Saved Filters’ to quickly repeat useful searches
The Search page now has the functionality to create ‘Saved Filters’.  This saves the selections that have been made in all filters.  This allows you to quickly repeat a search by selecting it from your ‘Saved Filters’ dropdown.  For example, you could create a Saved Filter to return all your departures with high criticality, or all departures assigned to your team which have been granted Provisional Agreement.  To learn more and see an example, please watch the YouTube tutorial here.

… new Search filters including Structure Key, Provisional Agreement, PIN and more
There are new filters available in the Search page that allow you to filter the search results by specific criteria.  These include filtering departures by location, for a specific Structure Key, for departures that have been granted Provisional Agreement, or for departures where a specific user is assigned to any role in the application.  To learn more about all the search filters, please watch the YouTube tutorial here.

… the Current Assignee field is now set automatically by the software
The Current Assignee user role is now set automatically and cannot be changed by users.  Please use the Assign popup to assign users to a departure.  There is a YouTube tutorial available here.

… preparation to move departures from DAS 2.0 to DAS 3.0
Development work is underway for the future migration of all departures from DAS 2.0 to DAS 3.0.  This is targeted to be completed in November 2019.  After the migration is complete, all DAS 2.0 departures will be available view read-only in DAS 3.0. 

… an update to the DAS log-in page
The DAS log-in page has been updated to use a new release from our authentication technology provider.  The log-in page has a different layout, but works in exactly the same way with your existing username and password.

… give Provisional Agreement for departure applications
Specialist Submission Points and Technical Specialists are now able to give ‘Provisional Agreement’ for a departure.  When Provisional Agreement is given, a read-only ‘snapshot’ of the application is taken; recording the state of the application when Provisional Agreement was given.  Users are notified by email that Provisional Agreement has been given, and an entry is added to the Diary. 

Provisional Agreement may only be given where there is agreement that the departure is critical to scheme delivery, it appears that the principle of the departure is acceptable, and is likely to be approvable if supported by sufficient justification as part of a full departure application. Provisional Agreement does not preclude later return for rework or even rejection where the departure does not include sufficient justification.

To learn more, watch the YouTube tutorial here.

… view read-only ‘Snapshots’ of a departure
Snapshots are a read-only copy of a departure application at a point in time.  These provide a permanent, read-only record of an application at each point in its lifecycle.  They can be used to compare how an application has changed over time, for example, “what rework was performed on this departure?”, “has the departure content changed since I provided Provisional Agreement?”.

Snapshots are automatically taken when an application moves through key stages of the lifecycle.  Additional snapshots are automatically taken if provisional agreement is provided, or if rework is requested and then resubmitted.  Users can view all ‘Snapshots’ via the camera button in the sidebar.  To learn more, watch the YouTube tutorial here.

… request rework as a Project Manager or Specialist Submission Point
Project Managers and SSPs can now request rework for an application.  Project Managers can request rework in the stage “PM Appraisal”, and SSPs can request rework in the stage “Specialist Submission Point”.  This returns the application to the Proposer for rework.  When rework is completed this will return to the user who requested the rework.

… export search results from the Home page to CSV
Users can now export the search results from the home page to CSV.  This allows users to export the filters results, for example export the ‘Waiting on me’ filter to manage their upcoming actions.  To do this, use the ‘Export search results’ button to the right of the search bar. 

… view search results more quickly on the Home and Search pages
The list of departures shown on the Home and Search pages have been paginated.  The results are now displayed across multiple pages.  This significantly improves loading times and improve performance.

… use DAS 3.0 for Structures departures!
DAS 3.0 is now live for Structures, and is therefore live for all Highways England disciplines!

Users can add Structure Keys to a departure application using the “Add Using Structure Key” button in the locations section of a departure.  To learn more, watch the YouTube tutorial here.

… select project PINs, Roads and Schemes from an integration with Oracle Fusion  
The ‘Project Information’ field in a departure contains the PIN, Road and Scheme information.  Users now select the correct Project Information from a searchable pop-up that is integrated with Oracle Fusion.  This ensures that project information is consistent, accurate and up-to-date.

If a departure is a “Third Party Works” departure, users can select a tick-box to input the project information manually.  To learn more, watch the YouTube tutorial here.

… select which data columns to display for search results
Users can now select which data columns to display for search results.  This allows users to quickly gather the information required for departures, and export it to Excel if this is required for other external reports.  To learn more, watch the YouTube tutorial here.

… apply filters to search results
Users can now apply the following filters to search results:  Status, Standard and People.  This allows users to quickly answer questions like, “which applications are in PM appraisal”, “what departures are against a specific standard”, and “which departures are in Need Identified with Dorothy Mitchell as the designer?”.  To learn more, watch the YouTube tutorial here.

… a new help page for DAS
A new help page has been released, which contains updated help content and materials.  Access it by clicking ‘Help’ in the DAS header banner.  Please request any additional help content via iig_das@caci.co.uk

… download all attachments
Users can now download all attachments via the attachments panel.  This will download a zip folder to your computer, which contains all the attachments.

… view and restore deleted attachments
Deleted attachments are shown in the ‘Deleted Files’ area, and can be restored to avoid re-uploading files.  Additionally, duplicate files are now renamed with a ‘(1)’ after the file name, so that duplicate files can be quickly identified. 

… ensure that DAS 3.0 does not enter an infinite reload loop
Users have reported an issue where DAS 3.0 enters an infinite reload loop.  This bug has been fixed and should no longer occur.  Please contact iig_das@caci.co.uk if you experience this issue again.

… download a full user report
This Excel file contains the email address and organisations for every DAS 3.0 user.  DAS Admin can use this report to quick email all users, or integrate organisation data.

… extract locations from departures with multiple locations
Designers, Proposers and DAS Admin can now extract locations from departures which have multiple locations.  If a departure application requires updates for a subset of its locations, these can be extracted into new departure applications and removed from the original application.  To learn more about this functionality, watch the YouTube tutorial here

… search across all departure applications  
‘Search’ is now available in the DAS 3.0 header bar.  This searches all the fields in the ‘Departure Information’ for applications that you have permission to access.  This allows search by Standard, Clause, Scheme, and many other fields.  The search results can be exported to CSV, to help with planning and reporting.  Try searching for a specific standard to see how it works!  To learn more about this functionality, watch the YouTube tutorial here.  

This is the first release of the search functionality, and it will continue to be improved and enhanced over the upcoming months.  If there is specific search functionality you would like to see, please submit this feedback using ‘Contact Support’.

… view comments in the notification emails
The automatic notification emails now include comments that users have entered in the DAS 3.0 pop-ups.

… assign Additional Technical Reviewers
The role of “Advisory Specialists” has been changed to “Additional Technical Reviewers”.   

… extract all DAS 3.0 user emails
DAS Admin can extract the email addresses for all users, enabling them to easily contact DAS 3.0 users. 

… cannot revert a revised departure
Once a revision has been created for a departure, DAS Admin can no longer revert the original departure.  This ensures a clear audit trail for revised departures.

… filter by “My Disciplines’ ” on the DAS 3.0 dashboard
This filter is available to Highways England employees.  This filter displays all departures that are within the disciplines that you are associated with.  This can be used to help gain an overview of all departures within a discipline, or to understand a discipline teams progress.

If you do not have any departures displayed, contact DAS Admin to ensure that you are associated with a discipline: departures@highwaysengland.co.uk 

… filter by “My Organisations’ ” on the DAS 3.0 dashboard
This filter is available to Supply Chain employees.  This filter displays all departures that have been created by your organisations.  This will display departures for all organisations that you are associated with, including Joint Ventures.

If you do not have any departures displayed, contact DAS Admin to ensure you are associated with an organisation: departures@highwaysengland.co.uk 

… filter by ‘Withdrawn before Submission’
This filter displays departures that have been withdrawn before they were submitted to Highways England.  This has been included following feedback that users were creating ‘practice’ departures in the live DAS 3.0 environment, which created a cluttered view in the dashboard.  This filter removes departures that are withdrawn before submission from all other views, and excludes them from monthly reporting.

… retry or abort the upload for failed attachments
If an attachment upload fails, there is new functionality to either retry or abort the upload. 

… cancel assigning a user to a role
In the ‘Assign’ popup, there is an ‘back’ button available that cancels the user role change you have made.  The previously assigned user will remain assigned to this role.

… create revisions for a departure
A revision can be created for a rejected departure.  This copies all the content from the original departure into a revision, which is then updated as a revised application.  A link to the original departure is provided in the diary, and you can easily navigate between revisions.  Watch the YouTube tutorial here.

… better manage the attachments for a departure
The attachments functionality has been improved to …

• upload multiple attachments at once
• display a notification number to indicate how many attachments are in the departure
• expand the attachments panel to see the full attachment file name
• show a ‘pending’ or ‘failed’ status when an attachment is uploaded

We acted on your feedback that attachments management should be improved.  There will be more enhancements coming soon, including the ability to download multiple attachments.  Watch the YouTube tutorial here.

… upload attachments if you are a Specialist
The Specialist Submission Point, Technical Specialists, and Authoring Signatory can now upload attachments to a departure during the stage ‘Specialist Review’.  Watch the YouTube tutorial here.

… find specific departures on the homepage
Quickly find your departures using the ‘filter departure’ bar on the DAS homepage.  The tool filters across all the columns displayed on the homepage – try entering a specific term included in the title, or a specific status to see it work!  Watch the YouTube tutorial here.

… filter departures on the homepage
Use the “Waiting on me” filter to display only departures that are assigned to you for action.  Use the “I’m involved in” filter to view all departures you are assigned to.  Watch the YouTube tutorial here.

… only select relevant organisations in the Design Organisation dropdown
The Design Organisation dropdown only shows organisations that a designer belongs to.  If you work within multiple organisations, including joint ventures, these will all be displayed as options in the dropdown.  Use this field to select the correct organisation for the departure.  Watch the YouTube tutorial here.

… view a departure’s revision number
The revision number is shown besides the Departure ID on the homepage, and within the Key Data panel of an open departure.  We will soon be releasing the functionality to create a revision for a departure.

… only assign Highways England users to Highways England roles
Permissions now limit which users can be assigned to the Designer, Proposer and Highways England roles.  Only Supply Chain users can be Designers or Proposers, and only Highways England users can be assigned to Highways England review roles.  The DAS Admin team are able to override this when this is required.

… better understand when to assign users to roles
The ‘assign’ popup has been updated to provide guidance about what roles need to be assigned and when.  We acted on your feedback that users were being incorrectly assigned to roles – this enhancement should provide clarity on user role assignments.

… directly manage organisations within DAS 3.0
DAS Admin can use the Admin Page to create new organisations and mark organisations as obsolete. Watch the YouTube tutorial here.

… manage the mapping of users to organisations within DAS 3.0
DAS Admin can use the Admin Page to add and remove users to the required organisations.  Watch the YouTube tutorial here.

… use group management to manage what roles users can be assigned to
DAS Admin can add users to specific groups to control which roles they can be assigned to within departures.

… access reporting in DAS 3.0
DAS Admin can download automatic reports for different time periods.