Descartes® is pleased to announce the latest release of Peoplevox. This update includes the new web app variance approval workflow, some additional performance improvements to prepare for the upcoming peak period, and also lays some ground work for the final set of pre-peak improvements that we plan to deliver in the next release. Below, you'll find a summary of the changes implemented in this version. For any questions about specific items, please reference the associated number (if provided) when contacting Descartes Customer Support.
Tip: Use our Ideas Portal to submit your enhancement ideas for Descartes Peoplevox. Click here for additional information and instructions on how to request access.
Highlights
🟨 New web app variance approval workflow (1216915)
The new web app variance approval workflow aims to give users greater insight and visibility into open variances, and improve the overall experience of reviewing and approving those variances.
To use the new workflow, enable the "Preview beta" permission under the Stock take module for your role.
From the search page, you can view a list of open variances and quickly check the size of each variance in both quantity and value. The container check indicator also allows you to easily see whether there were any discrepancies with the expected containers in the location or not.
The variance indicates both a total discrepancy, as well as a breakdown of missing versus additional unexpected items. Example: This variance found 1 unexpected item, but was missing 10 others that were expected to be found, for a total variance of 11 items:
The detail page provides a clean and simple summary of the variance, broken down by product, showing the expected and the actual counted values for each:
From here, users can approve or reject the variance for individual items. Unlike the legacy variance approval, it is also possible to leave some items undecided while confirming the approval or rejection for others.
The other key improvement from the legacy workflow is that containers are now listed separately from items. These are reviewed and approved separately from the items:
For each, the page clearly indicates whether the container was expected and found, expected but not found, or found but not expected.
As with the legacy workflow, the location remains locked until the variance is fully handled.
After completing a variance, you can quickly cycle through to other open variances using the arrows in the navigation bar. If you applied any search criteria on the previous page, then these will be respected when moving between variances. Otherwise, these will simply move between any open variances.
Further enhancements to the variance approval workflow, most notably the addition of automation that will allow variances to be automatically approved based on configurable thresholds. We are still working on that, but we aim to have it ready for you early next year.
New Features and Enhancements
🟪 We have updated the remaining action types to use the new action creation back-end. This improves overall action creation performance, and means that all action creation activities are consistently logged. (1283610, 1285065, 1288991)
🟪 We have continued to apply a number of performance improvements to the system. This updated focused on improving the sales orders search used for action creation, and the process for generating snapshots for the mobile app. (1312017)
Resolved Issues
🟩 We fixed an issue with the new mobile stock take workflow that caused it to lock locations with no way to unlock them if stock taking an empty location with no variance. These variances will now correctly be displayed on the new web variance approval screen, with a dedicated workflow to handle them (1326589):
🟩 We fixed an issue that could prevent stock takes on the mobile app from updating the last stock take timestamp on the location. (1330264)
🟩 We resolved a number of issues that were related to actions being generated with incorrect item quantities. (1313242, 1327012)
🟩 We resolved an issue with the new register function that caused it to incorrectly require additional permissions. (1335272)
Decommissioning Old Screens
With this release, the following screens will be decommissioned and are no longer available. We are continuing to work on overall improvements across the new web app UI, and the new versions of these screens will be regularly updated with those improvements.
October
The following legacy screens are scheduled to be decommissioned on October 1st:
Reports
Dashboards
Preview of Changes Coming Soon
Cycle Count Improvements
We’re working on several improvements to the cycle count process. We would love to hear your feedback on these topics.
🟦 We are working on an auto-approval mechanism that will allow you to define thresholds for auto-approval based on the total item variance, or a percentage variance, or a total value variance (or any combination of the above). These thresholds will be set at the Site level and are entirely optional. You will be able to enable auto-approval with a variance threshold of zero if you only want to auto-approve variances with no discrepancies.
🟦 We plan to improve the way cycle count actions are displayed on the web application. The current actions pages are geared around pick actions, making many of the fields and columns not applicable to cycle counting. The goal is to introduce screens that are relevant to the specific action type.
Changes to Multi-factor Authentication and Mobile Device Registration
Coming in January 2026, multi-factor authentication (MFA) will be required for the majority of web app users. MFA is already enforced for users with permission to manage roles or users; this requirement will then be extended to other web app user roles.
The exception to this requirement will be for web app users that only have permissions related to Returns and/or Despatch. This is intended to ensure that returns and pack bench workstations can continue to operate seamlessly.
Multi-factor authentication codes will not be required for mobile operators, but from January 2026, any new mobile devices accessing the system will first need to be registered via a new web app page coming soon. The intent behind this change is to ensure that only authorized devices are permitted to connect to the system, and to provide administrators with greater control over onboarding and offboarding mobile operators.
This device registration page will also support a number of other functional enhancements, such as assistance to find lost devices, and login audit history.
We will be communicating these changes separately in an upcoming announcement as well.
Descartes ShipRush
You can also find the latest release notes for ShipRush here: