v.1.49.8 (27/05/2026)

RELEASE NOTES

May 2026 · Version 1.49.8

Platform wide enhancements and fixes

RELEASED Deployed 27 May 2026 · High customer impact

What’s in this release

This release introduces a new IRIS Staffology HR integration (beta), a major new AI capability (StaffCircle MCPx) a range of improvements across reviews and objectives, and bug fixes covering absence management, documents, communications, and skills. API documentation has also been expanded and permission enhancements are included.

New Capabilities

NEW INTEGRATION

IRIS Staffology HR integration (beta release)

StaffCircle now connects directly with IRIS Staffology HR. Employee records — including name, department, job title, line manager, and employment status — automatically sync from Staffology into StaffCircle on a scheduled basis. New starters are provisioned, updated records are kept in sync, and leavers are deactivated, removing the need for manual data entry across both platforms. The integration is available as a beta feature and can be enabled from the Integrations administration area.

NEW FEATURE

MCPx* (our new AI model context protocol for Analytics & Actions)

MCP Analytics

You can now enable AI analytics capability through the MCP security group to enable certain individuals to perform advanced AI powered analytics using your StaffCircle data combined with other knowledge banks (eg: “analyse the latest 360 review cycle to identify important trends and create an action plan for the leadership team based on this information”)

MCP Actions

You can now enable AI actions capability through the MCP security group to enable certain individuals to perform many Staffcircle actions (eg: creating review cycles, adding/updating objectives etc) using your favourite AI Agent or Chat Interface (eg: Claude, ChatGPT, Microsoft CoPilot)

*MCPx is part of the new StaffCircle Advanced Analytics module, speak to your success manager for a demo and to activate on your account.

Enhancements

IMPROVEMENT

Reviews UX improvements

A number of usability improvements have been made across the reviews module, making the experience smoother for both reviewees and managers. This is the latest phase of ongoing UX refinements following earlier releases. This new user experience can be enabled optionally by your administrator.

IMPROVEMENT

Completed date column in Manage > Reviews

A new ‘Completed date’ column is now visible in the review list under Manage > Reviews, making it easier to identify when reviews were finished without having to open individual records.

IMPROVEMENT

Review count removed from Manage > Reviews list header

The total count of reviews shown in the list header has been removed as it was found to create confusion. The list itself remains unchanged.

IMPROVEMENT

Tab re-ordering in reviews

The tab order within reviews has been updated to improve navigational flow and better reflect the typical way users work through a review record.

IMPROVEMENT

New permission: Re-open reviews

Administrators can now grant specific security groups the permission to re-open completed reviews, providing more flexibility in managing the review lifecycle without requiring full admin access.

IMPROVEMENT

Increased character limits for objectives, reviews, and role descriptions

The character limit for objective and review titles has been increased to support longer, more descriptive entries. The role description field limit has also been raised to 6,000 characters, giving HR teams more space for detailed role documentation.

IMPROVEMENT

Performance Management Reports — “To Date” extended to +14 days

The ‘To Date’ field on all Performance Management reports now allows dates up to 14 days in the future, making it easier to generate forward-looking reports without needing to wait for the period to pass.

IMPROVEMENT

Ability to add feedback questions within the review template wizard

When adding or updating a review template, users can now create new feedback questions directly within the wizard, removing the need to navigate away to configure questions separately.

IMPROVEMENT

Participant type column in feedback questions

The participant type (previously ‘Audience’) is now displayed as a column in the feedback questions list, making it easier to see at a glance which participant groups each question applies to. The label has also been renamed from ‘Audience’ to ‘Participant’ for clarity.

IMPROVEMENT

Internal reviewer selection made optional

The Internal Reviewer field is no longer mandatory when creating or completing a review, providing greater flexibility for organisations whose review processes do not always require an internal reviewer to be selected.

Other changes

IMPROVEMENT

Default “Allow manual progress changes” to ON for new Objective Templates

When creating a new Objective Template, the ‘Allow manual progress changes’ setting now defaults to enabled. This better reflects typical usage and reduces the need for manual configuration after template creation.

IMPROVEMENT

Welcome email link updated

The welcome email sent to new users included a link to a help article that no longer exists. This has been updated to point to a current and relevant help resource.

IMPROVEMENT

Absence booking validation — overlapping allowance periods prevented

The system now validates absence bookings against allowance periods and prevents users from booking absences that would overlap across two separate allowance periods, reducing admin effort to correct invalid bookings.