Fusion 4.6 Release Notes

Builds 5005 and 5006; Build Dates: 2024-12-11 and 2024-12-16

We have some great new features in this version. We encourage you to get familiar with them and start using them to your advantage! Feel free to contact our support team if you have any questions.

Scale House Weighing

Have you ever wished Fusion could capture weights in your scale house? Well, now it can! Set up Fusion Client in your scale house and get your scale head connected to it. Then add a printer and you'll be good to go!

You can set the Scale House window to only work with your staff or to allow truckers to weigh in and out themselves. Back in the office, the scale house loads can be converted into scale tickets, in cohorts, out cohorts, or inventory offsets. A full audit trail for each load is maintained. Look for these new windows in the new Scale House menu under Fusion Commodity.

Faster Daily Feed Detail Window

If it takes too long for data to load in the Daily Feed Detail window then you'll appreciate the work we've done in this window. Every section of this window should now load very fast, even in poor network situations. One tester saw the loads times for this window go from eight minutes to five seconds. No more waiting around!

Feed Load Accuracy Report

The Daily Feed Detail window is great for looking at feed loading accuracy for individual loads, but perhaps you've been wishing for some insight into overall accuracy? That's what this report is for. Choose a date range and a location and you'll see what the overall loading accuracy is. You can even drill down per driver.

Hopefully you can use this report to identify areas where additional training or infrastructure changes will lead to greater accuracy in this key area.

CCIA Improvements

Are you a Canadian producer exporting cattle? Then you'll be happy to know we've added the ability to send export events to CCIA. Look for this under the CCIA button in the Animals list window.

Also, Fusion has begun time stamping events it sends to CCIA so if more than one event is sent on the same day for an animal, they'll be sure to be in the right order.

OneDrive Compatibility

Once you've gone through the conversion process mentioned below, Fusion's files will now be located in the Program Files and ProgramData folders on each computer. Because there are no Fusion related files in your Documents folder, services like OneDrive and Dropbox will not get bogged down or interfere with Fusion's functionality.

Optimized Syncing (Especially for Large Yards)

We noticed that syncing in feed trucks could get bogged down at larger yards with lots of feed trucks, so we decided to rewrite the sync engine from scratch in order to use more recent and optimized technologies. Changing the sync engine would require a manual upgrade for all trucks, so it made sense to tackle this issue at the same time as the OneDrive compatibility feature since it also required a manual upgrade.

So what do you get with the new sync engine? Most importantly, syncing in general is faster. This is particularly true for Full Syncs which have been heavily optimized. Make sure you use the Full Sync window once at the beginning of each day because it does a full sync that is not optimized, ensuring you have all the data you need for the day. Then use regular Full Syncs throughout the day and because they are so optimized, doing this will work well with lots of feed trucks syncing at the same time. You should seldom need to do a Push Sync anymore—in fact, doing so could slow the system down.

What else do you get? If you've ever encountered the "You Are Not Recognized As An Active Computer..." error when trying to sync with a spare truck that has been sitting for several days, you know what a pain it is to get it syncing again. With the new sync engine you'll never see that error again, no matter how long your truck's been sitting. Internally what's happening is that the server simply ignores any data coming from the truck on the first sync after it has sat for more than two weeks. This ensures erroneous data doesn't end up on the server to mess up invoices or other reports. Then the truck is marked as an active truck again and syncing works like normal. This all happens silently in the background so the truck driver can simply sync and start feeding.

Because this is a brand new sync engine, we'd appreciate feedback if you notice anything not working correctly!

Auto Upgrade Changes

The auto-upgrade system was completely rewritten to be faster. The most notable change is that trucks have the ability to silently pre-download the install file in the background before there is a need to upgrade. This means that in most circumstances the truck will already be ready to update, making it very fast. And if the install file isn't pre-downloaded, the truck will immediately download it. Overall, there should be far fewer failed upgrades in trucks with the new mechanism.

Of course, you won't see the benefit of this until Fusion 4.7 is released.

Quality of Life Improvements

Here are a few more changes, additions, and quality of life enhancements.

• The Sync Activity window's list is sortable, making it a little easier when trying to zero in on a particular truck or driver or find the best or worst sync.
• There is a new Data History section in the Preferences window. We found that the truck audit information takes up a disproportionate amount of space in most of your data bases, yet most people don't need this information after it is a few months old. Fusion will delete truck audit information older than the number of days you set here. The default for new customers is 270 days, but existing yards are set to 10,000 days—giving you a chance to change it to whatever you want before it does anything destructive.
• If you have a truck that feeds at multiple locations, each with a different micro machine, then you'll want to use the new Use Separate Settings For Each Location feature in the Micro Machine Settings window. The previous trick of using different operating system accounts for each location will no longer work now that Fusion Truck is installed outside the Documents folder.
• The User Edit window and the Change Username and Password window) have been cleaned up and modernized. We removed some fields that were no longer needed and also made it so that you don't need to create a separate contact record for each user. Further, we added a checkbox for receiving emails. We intend to begin sending occasional, short emails to help users learn more about Fusion. This will eventually take the place of the customer list. We often hear that users are unaware of features that are already in Fusion, so we strongly recommend having each employee receive these emails so everyone can learn to be more proficient in Fusion.
• We added "Intranasal" to the list of administration routes in the Drug Edit window.

Bug Fixes

We want to thank those of you who took the time to report the bugs you've found. As a result, the following bugs have been squashed. If you encounter any more bugs, please contact our support team directly. We want Fusion to be as bug-free as possible!

• We fixed a bug where water tempering would not appear in reports if there were only two water meter readings in the system.
• You may have noticed that the selection in a list window would sometimes randomly disappear. That won't happen anymore.
• In the last version we added the ability to add inputs inside the Simple New Death Out Cohort window. Unfortunately, these events didn't have a location or lot assigned to them. This version fixes that oversight.
• Depending on your preference settings, the information just to the right of the Bunk Call field in the Bunk Call/Feed Delivery window might get truncated so only part of the information was visible. Fixed now.
• The "DMI per Animal" label in the bunk call graph was also truncated and is fixed.
• In the Lot Edit window it was possible to add the same owner multiple times which could mess up billing. Going forward, Fusion will not let you do this.
• Peripherals in Fusion Truck and Fusion Client couldn't be on port 10 or higher on Windows computers. Now Fusion recognizes any port number.
• In an odd situation, the Task Bar window might stay open when you logged out in Fusion Client. Fixed.
• The Backup Settings window could erroneously show that a backup happened when, in fact, it was unsuccessful. This is fixed and we added a Test Primary Backup button for, well, testing.
• The estimated slaughter date value in the Lot Edit window was no longer updating live when someone changed the Target Weight or Target Date fields (it still updated after saving the lot, just not live). Fixed now.
• Build 5006 fixes a couple of sync issues that were identified after Fusion 4.6 was announced.

Future Changes To Be Aware Of

Please note that the minimum monitor size for office computers will increase in future versions of Fusion to accommodate easier-to-read windows. Truck and chuteside computers will not be affected.

Upgrade Instructions

Once or twice a decade, the internals of Fusion change enough to necessitate a manual upgrade at each computer. In order to support the direction Microsoft has moved toward for increased security and to alleviate issues with cloud services such as OneDrive and DropBox, Fusion 4.6 must be manually installed at every computer, carefully following the steps outlined below.

Please schedule a date with our support team for your upgrade. We will remotely upgrade your server. We’ll also be available at no charge to help you through the process of upgrading your other computers. We’re also happy to work with your certified partner or IT staff if they will be involved. It is best to upgrade mid-afternoon after feeding is complete, when possible. There is no pressure to upgrade as soon as possible. Note that we will only schedule one upgrade per day.

Upgrade Steps

1. Make sure all trucks have synced before the upgrade begins and that every Fusion Truck and Fusion Client is shut down.
2. Perform the following steps on each computer, starting with the server (which we will do) and then working out:
   1. Make sure no Fusion applications are running on the computer. This includes Symmetry if installed.
   2. Install and run Fusion Installer from this link: https://fusionfeedlotinsights.com/46.html or by clicking on the banner at the top of our website's home page.
   3. In Fusion Installer, click the Convert This Computer For Fusion 4.6 button. When the conversion is complete, quit Fusion Installer.
   4. Using the above link install the Fusion application(s) that belong on this computer. This includes Symmetry if installed. This must be done from the website, not Fusion Installer!
   5. Launch Fusion (Client or Truck) on this computer and test to make sure it connects or syncs and that any connected peripherals still work.
3. If you have trucks which feed at multiple locations, each with their own micro machine, then follow these additional steps on each truck:
   1. Open the Physical Computer Management window and navigate to the Micro Machine settings.
   2. Turn on the new “Use Separate Settings For Each Location” setting.
   3. Make sure the setup is correct for the truck’s current location and then save the settings.
   4. Use the Full Sync window to sync with another location. Then go back to the Physical Computer Management window and turn the Micro Machine checkbox on. Then open the micro machine settings and enter the settings for the micro machine at that location and save.
   5. Repeat for each location this truck feeds at. Now the truck will automatically connect with the correct micro machine when feeding at each location.

Extra Information for IT Personnel

Certified Partners and other IT personnel may find the following information useful:

• The conversion routine moves files from Fusion’s old location in the user’s Documents folder to the new locations. Applications now go in C:\Program Files\Fusion\ while all other files (including primary backups, install files, and Symmetry data files) go in C:\ProgramData\Fusion\. Fusion no longer stores any files in the user’s Documents folder or the public Documents folder.
• If the computers are set up in “non-typical” ways, such as with multiple user accounts, domain accounts, etc., extra care may need to be taken. For example, you may need to use an administrator account for the initial install of each application with the MSI installers to make sure the files and folders get the correct permissions for other users on the computer to have the needed access. You’ll also need to decide which account to use when running the conversion routine in Fusion Installer. This only needs to be done from one of the computer’s accounts, so if there are multiple accounts with Fusion in the Document folder, some may need to be manually removed. Finally, depending on the situation, you may need to check the ownership on files moved from the Documents folder to the new ProgramData folder during the conversion process to ensure all users on the computer will be able to read and write to those files—the same as if they were created from scratch.
• It is important that each application on a computer be installed using the MSI installer on our website at least once (thereafter, the applications can be upgraded via auto-upgrade, from the website, or using Fusion Installer). There are two reasons for this:
  1. The MSI installers all make sure that the two Fusion folders (one in Program Files and one in ProgramData) are created and have the correct permissions, asking for elevated permissions if necessary. This is critical for Fusion to function day-to-day as well as for it to be able to auto-upgrade itself in the future. Full Control for the Users group is the permission required for both Fusion folders and can be manually turned on if necessary. (The expectation is that any user on the computer can create files inside these new Fusion folders once the permissions are set up, so if you have a permission hierarchy that might prevent this it will have to be updated for these locations.)
  2. The MSI installer creates a shortcut on the public Desktop. This often needs elevated permissions so it is not possible for Fusion or Fusion Installer to do. Once created, though, it doesn’t need to change when Fusion is upgraded in the future.
• There is a new sync mechanism so Fusion 4.6 will not sync with previous versions. This is useful in this context because it ensures no one uses the auto-upgrade procedure to upgrade a truck in the wrong (old) location. However, it is possible to auto-upgrade Fusion Client in the wrong location. Please coordinate the upgrade so this doesn’t accidentally happen. If it does, it may look like the upgrade went fine, but issues will occur down the road.
• You could, if you find it easier, download all the MSI files from the website and place them on a USB drive. This could then be used at each computer rather than downloading each time.
• None of the above apply to Fusion installations on a Mac. There is no conversion process necessary there.
• Note that the primary backup folder has moved the new location inside the ProgramData’s Fusion folder. If you had your own backup system specifically looking for the old folder, then you’ll need to update your settings. Fusion’s secondary backup’s will continue to work as before and their location will not be changed during the conversion.
• We will need to monitor the primary backups a few days after the upgrade. In some cases, old primary backup files will not automatically be removed at the appropriate time due to the way the conversion steps. If you notice this before we do, let us know and we will fix the issue by manually removing certain backup files.

Feel free to contact us if you have technical questions not covered here.