New features and changes are largely developed out of recommendations from existing users. If you would like a feature or change including in the development plan please contact us.
Some minor changes are not included.
| Feature or Bug Fix |
Release Month |
- Integration with Outlook 365 using Microsoft Graph. The system can now synchronize leave events from Flex Planner into Outlook 365. Synchronization is done at regular intervals
- Multi Factor Authentication - when logging into the system there is now the option of having Multi Factor Authentication (MFA) by email. This optional and can be turned on globally by a system administrator, and also turned on/off for specific individuals
- Bulk change users' flexi start date. The purpose of this is improve system performance when recalculating users' flexi time balances, since a flexi balance calculation can take longer with the more days it has to process. By moving users' flexi start dates forwards it means there is less data to process in the balance calculation
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March 2024 |
The following new features have been added:
- Users can now import events from Flex Planner into other calendar systems such as Outlook, Google Calendar etc. This feature must first be turned on by an administrator. Users can then click on Flex Planner events and import them manually into Outlook, either as an individual event or a series of events for multi day events. Also when events are approved by an administrator the user will get an email with an attachment that allows users to import the event(s) into Outlook etc
- Timesheet periods can now be submitted for approval and those periods can then be approved by another individual. The system supports different periods for timesheet approval eg weekly or by flexi time period (eg 4 weekly, monthly etc). A user can click a button to request approval for a timesheet period and the system will then run checks on the period to ensure time recorded is correct. The approval request will appear on an approver's dashboard for approval. Reports can be run to extract approved timesheet periods and totals of recorded time in that period
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May 2023 |
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The following enhancements were made:
- Annual leave can now be restricted so that users can't book more than their annual leave allowance and carried over amount. It can be configured so that a user will be prompted not to book the leave (but can still do so), or they cannot book the leave at all
- Flexi leave can now be restricted so that users can't book more than their allowable flexi leave in a given period according to their flexi template. It can be configured so that a user will be prompted not to book the leave (but can still do so), or they cannot book the leave at all. The maximum amount of bookable flexi leave is set on the flexi time template - the settings is in hours/minutes per flexi period
- Removed the requirement for users to have a user name on their user account. They now just have to have an email address to login, rather than the option of user name or email address
- It is now possible for system administrators to copy existing event types in order to create new event types. This helps speed up the creation of event types
- When events/adjustments are approved, the user's balance is automatically recalculated, whereas it wasn't before
- When deleting a series of multi day events, the lunch deductions on those days weren't also deleted. Lunch deductions are now deleted when a series of events are deleted. The system will then recalculate the balance for the user and potentially reinsert the lunch deductions where appropriate
- When a user deletes a negative adjustment from their timesheet (eg minimum lunch, excess surplus) and it needs approval, then the adjustment was made into a positive one not negative. This has been fixed
- System administrators could approve their own adjustments (not events) - they can no longer approve their own adjustments
- If a user enters a full day leave and then records some working time in the evening or morning, the system previously deducted minimum lunch. Now if a leave event is entered that spans the core lunch hours (eg 12-2pm), and also does a work session that day, then the system will not deduct minimum lunch
- Annual leave totals on the leave page now include both approved and unapproved leave
- Other minor bug fixes were also made in various areas of the system
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November 2022 |
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Locations
A previous update allowed users' to record their location when working (eg office, home, London office etc). The feature has been extended to be more visible on team views and reporting.
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June 2022
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Synchronisation of flexi period start/end dates for 2 week, 4 week, 6 week and 8 week accounting periods
Previously if a user was on a 2 week, 4 week, 6 week or 8 week flexi time accounting period, the system would work out the period start and end dates from the user's flexi start date. It is now possible to synchronize period start and end dates across all users so that they are aligned, rather than basing it on individual user's flexi start dates. This can be set on the flexi time template.
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June 2022
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Minor Bug Fixes in Flexi Balance Calculator
There were two bugs in the flexi balance calculator that have been fixed, they were: Occasionally a lunch deduction was made which was more than the users' minimum required lunch break. eg if the minimum lunch was 30 minutes, on rare occasions a deduction more than this was made. Secondly when a user worked past midnight the system did not calculate their worked hours for the day correctly.
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June 2022 |
Updates to mobile version
Users can now see a summary of their leave bookings on their mobile version and also approvers can now approve event requests via the interface.
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January 2022
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Autopopulation of national holidays
Future national holidays can now be autopopulated by the system meaning they do not have to be manually entered.
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January 2022
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Enable record of location
Allow users to record their location when entering events eg home location, or a particular office.
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January 2022
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Outlook calendar feed
Facility to allow Flex Planner events to show in Outlook or other calendar types (eg Google Calendar). Note this is done through Internet Calendar Feeds (ICS).
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January 2022 |
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2 week accounting period
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January 2022 |
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Automatic data cleanout service
You can now configure the system to automatically remove old time recording data such as working time, holidays, sickness etc. This feature has been added for the purposes of data protection. You can configure the feature to delete time recordings after a specific number of years eg between 1 and 10 years, and an automatic service will run monthly that deletes out old time recordings.
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July 2021
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8 week accounting period
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April 2021
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Recording of time against clients/projects
Users can allocate recorded time to projects or clients. The system allows administrators to configure difference projects/clients that staff can work on, and staff will then be able to allocate time to them. Users will be able to run reports on time spent on projects etc in order to ascertain project times and costs.
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April 2021
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Individual approver timesheet access
If a user is a team admin or a system admin they can view the timesheets of other users and also approve events for those users. An individual user can also be specified as an approver of events - however individual approvers couldn't previously view the timesheets or leave allowances of staff they approved events for making it difficult for them to know whether an event should have approval or not. The system was changed to allow individual approvers to see timesheets and leave allowances etc for users whose time they approve.
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January 2021 |
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Integration with Microsoft Dynamics HR
Automatic synchronisation of leave requests between Flex Planner and Dynamics HR.
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January 2021
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Two weekly working patterns
You can now setup two weekly working patterns, eg a user can be required to work 4 days in week one, 5 days in week two etc.
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January 2021
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Time Banking
Time from the flexi balance can be banked and then flexi leave can be booked off from the time in the bank.
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January 2021
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Time can be entered using 12 hour clock
Previously the system only supported the inputting of time using the 24 hour clock. However 12 hour clock input has been added for regions and countries where that is the standard.
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November 2020
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Date and time input improvements
The date pickers and time pickers have been improved for both mobile devices and standard web browsers (eg Chrome, Edge, Firefox).
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November 2020
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Improvements to the password reset/reminder facility
The password reset facility was improved for users who have forgotten their password and cannot login.
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July 2020
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API (Application Programming Interface)
An API is now available that enables programmers at your organisation to query data in the system. Please contact us if this is a service you require.
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April 2020
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Bulk user import
It is now possible to bulk import users by completing an Excel spreadsheet with the users' details in it.
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April 2020
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Timesheet lock down
Timesheets can now be locked automatically so that changes cannot be made by users after a certain period. Timesheets can be locked once a new period has started, or locked after a certain amount of time eg a number of days, weeks, months etc. System administrators and team leaders will still be able to change locked timesheets.
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April 2020
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New Report
A new report was added, "Events & Adjustment Totals By Type Report".
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December 2019
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Hide events type from shared calendars
Event types can now be setup to be hidden on the team/shared calendars such as the leave calendar. This was in response to some users not wanting to display events such as sickness to other members of a team.
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November 2019
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Flexi balance calculation bugs
Bug 1: Adjustments were being included in the flexi balance calculation when they were unapproved.
The flexi balance calculation has been changed to only include adjustments that are approved.
Bug 2: A flexi balance calculation bug occurred when an event type (such as flexi leave) is setup to deduct from a person's balance when it was in the future but in the same flexi period. When an event of this type was in the past, the system deducted time from a user's flexi time balance when it shouldn't have, resulting in some people's balances being lower than expected. eg if a user had a 7 hour flexi leave event booked off, they would lose both 7 hours for the event not contributing to the flexi time balance and an additional 7 hours deducted due to the bug. This bug only occurred on a very small scale as not many organisations had it setup in this way.
Bug 3: When a user fails to close a working session at the end of the day using the stop button, the system closes it automatically when they login the next day. If the user fails to close a session on the last day of an accounting period, and the user has excess surplus, the system enters an negative adjustment that will remove their excess surplus so that it cannot be carried over into the next account period - however the negative adjustment that was being entered was incorrect as it was based on an incomplete timesheet for the period (because the user had failed to end the working session and complete their times for the last day of the period). The system has been altered so that when the user's working session is automatically closed for the the last day of an accounting period, the excess surplus is recalculated. |
October/November 2019
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Auto sign out when user hasn't signed out
When a user forgets to close a working session using the stop button at the end of the day, the system automatically signs them out at earlier time eg 16.00, according to the setting on their time template. However the system was updated to allow users to be signed out at either the day earliest start time from their flexi template, or to set the end time of the event to the start time.
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September 2019
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Automatic calculation of times for day/half day events
It will be possible to setup event types so that when a person enters the event and it is a day/half day event, then the user doesn't have to change the start/end times to fill there full day or half day in accordance with their flexi time template. This will make it quicker and easier for users to enter events.
In addition administrators will be able to change the order of event type durations.
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September 2019
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Late staters/early finishes report
New report that will display users that start late (after day latest start), or finish early (before day earliest finish), and a total of lates/earlies by hour/minute
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June 2019
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Changes to event addition process when autocalc end time is enabled
Previously when adding a fixed duration event and selecting "Autocalc End Time", the system calculated the end time of the event based on the user's day or half day duration. However if, according to their flexi time template the user is not required to enter time for the day entered (because they don't have to enter time for that day of the week), the system previously entered a 0 minute duration event. The system was changed to not enter an event on days where users are not required to enter time according to their flexi time template.
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June 2019
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Team view calendar
In the system there is a "Leave Team View Calendar" which displays a list of users in a team and their time off events. In addition, a view that displays a list of users in a team and their working events in a calendar format was made available via the Team button. The events that are displayed will be optional but can include just custom working events or custom working events and time recorded via the start/stop buttons.
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June 2019
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Approvals email messages issues
When a user deletes a series of events, and the deletions need to go for approval, no emails were sent to the necessary approver. The system was changed so that emails are sent when a series of events are deleted.
Also when an approver approves multiple deletion requests, the text in the email to the approver was incorrect ie only the first items was described as a deletion in the email, the remaining deletions were described as approvals. The system was changed so that all deletions are correctly described as such.
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June 2019
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Flexi time templates lunch breaks at any time
Previously flexi time templates could only be configured so that users' had to take their lunch between specific times eg 12-14.00 otherwise the break would not count as lunch. Now flexi templates can be setup so that any break between events in the day can count towards the user's break. It is also possible to set it so that break is only deducted after a certain number of hours are recorded each day eg 6 hours work etc.
Reporting changes
Improvements were made to the reporting page layout and new reports added. A report that displays hours worked outside of normal working hours (ie before day earliest start time and after day latest end time) was added for organisations that allow outside hours to be recorded, and for it to be reported out as overtime
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May 2019
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Daily Automatic Flexi Balance Calculator
Previously the system only recalculated a user's flexi time balance when a user is signed in, changes their timesheet, or clicks on the recalculate balance. There is now a facility that automatically recalculates everyone's flexi time balance daily early in the morning. This ensures balances are always up-to-date event when someone is on leave, or not in. Currently this is not live for all organisations but can be made available on request
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May 2019
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Future Deductable Events
Event types in the system can be setup to deduct from a user's balance when they are in the future eg this can be used for flexi time events so that a user can book off time in the future and it deducts from their current balance. The flexi balance calculation was not calculating these correctly so the facility was improved. It was also made possible to have an event that only deducts from current balance when in the future but in the same flexi accounting period, and also have event types that are in the future and deduct from current balance regardless of accounting period
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April 2019
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Event Recurrence
When adding weekly recurring event previously you had to enter the number of weeks of recurrence, now you enter the date the event will recur until, which makes it easier to enter.
Date Display Improvements
For non dd/MM/yyyy formats (eg US and other date formats), the display of date formats was improved. In some instances dates were not displayed on screen in the correct format for users in certain countries.
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March/April 2019
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Bulk Annual Leave Copy
Under System Settings> Bulk Updates there is a facility to bulk copy users annual leave settings from one annual leave year to the next. It is only available for system administrators. It provides the ability to calculate annual leave taken and carried over annual leave and populate it to the user's record for the next annual leave year in bulk.
Layout improvements
Improvements made to the pages that list users, event types and flexi templates to provide more information about each record on the list page, rather than having to click on each record to see the information
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January 2019
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Team View Full Screen
A screen has been added under the Team button called View All Users Full Screen, which is only accessible for system administrators. The screen displays all users, their current event and current flexi time status, and refreshes every few minutes. The purpose of the screen is to show user status on a large office screen for all other users to see and was developed for a specific client
Some minor security improvements were also made.
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December 2018
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Flexi template changes on screen messaging
Improved on screen messaging when an administrator changes someone's flexi time template, or when a user is assigned a different template. Provides guidance on steps required when changing someone's flexi template, since changes to a template are applied all the way back to users' flexi start date and end users did not sometime realised that.
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October 2018
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Stay Logged In
Checkbox when logging in now keeps a user logged in indefinitely rather than for just 365 days.
IP Address recording
The system now records the ip address of a user when they enter an event or adjustment and displays this information on the event/adjustment form
In the System Administrators> IP Addresses section, system administrators can add your organisation's IP addresses and give them a name. If an event/adjustment has been updated at a known IP address from the list, then the name is displayed on the events/adjustments page. This helps you identify whether users are entering events from your offices or another location. In addition you can enable IP address restrictions ie you can restrict access to the system so that it can only be accessed from a recognized IP address. System administrators will still be able to access the system from anywhere, the restrictions only apply to non system administrators.
Locations
In the System Administrators> Locations section you can add a list of your office locations. Users can then be assigned to an office location. On the Leave> Leave Calendar View page you can also filter users displayed by location to ascertain who is on leave at an office by location.
Improvements to event/adjustment approval emails.
Link in email received by approver now directly opens the "Events You Can Approve" tab on the approvals page.Improved formatting to approval emails including user's name and better formatted dates
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September 2018
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Link to leave calendar from approvals page
When an approver view the list of events/adjustments to approve it would be useful to have a link to the leave calendar so it can be checked prior to approval.
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Custom annual leave reporting periods
Currently there is a fixed yearly accounting period for annual leave eg January to December. On occasion users change their working pattern and this affects their leave allowance. The system needs to allow for custom annual leave accounting period eg for just part of a year to allow for this.
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Clickable team leave calendar view
Currently, on the team calendar view that is available via the Leave button
Enable, users cannot click on cells or events to add/edit and delete the events. The calendar view will be made clickable to make event administration easier from this page.
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Team View
The team view for today has a green or red icon to show whether or not a user is signed in to a working session or not (via the start/stop buttons). This should be extended to show any working events eg those that are manually input, highlighting green when there is a currently working event.
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Work place reception clocking in facility (Iphone/Android app)
An iphone/Android app will be developed which will enable workplaces to place and device in their reception that scans QR codes for signing in and out of work. Each user will get a unique printed QR code on a credit card sized card - when the user presents the card to the device it will be scanned and will either start a working session for the user or stop one, depending on their current working status.
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Timesheet sign off
Provide the ability for timesheet approvers to sign off a timesheet for a period and for that timesheet to then become locked for the period. This would then ensure that historical events are not alterered once signe off. The flexi calculation could then be setup if necessary to only go back in time to calculate flexi balances for just recent periods.
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Events raw data report by last modified date
Provide the ability to find events by last modified date rather than event date.
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Report on recent changes made to historical events
This report will highlight events where a user has made changes to a historical event eg made a change to an event from a number of weeks ago in the last few days. The report will highlight where users are making changes to events in the past that shouldn't be changed.
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Email notifications
Email notifications could be sent to managers/administrators for events such as: when a user fails to sign out for the day and is automatically signed out, when a user starts late etc
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Iphone/Android app for end users
An app will be developed (a seperate one to the reception clocking in app mentioned above). It will allow users to log in, view their timesheets and balance, add events and adjustments. It will contain geographical location functionality so that signing in can only occur when in specified geographical areas eg your office.
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Recording geographical location
The system will be able to record a user's GPS coordinates for information when entering events/adjustments. It will be possible to restrict access to the system so that they can only access when they are in specified locations eg in and around your work offices.
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Record audit information on changes to events/adjustments
Record any historical changes made to events/adjustments and allow the reporting of audit information.
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