Overview
Version 2.0 is the initial release of the redesigned Employee Records Management (ERM) application. It replaces the previous HR Survey application with a purpose-built, VisualVault-native solution for HR departments managing employee records, compliance audits, and document workflows at enterprise scale.
The 2.0 platform was built from the ground up on a modern Node.js stack with a shared component library and design system that serves as the foundation for the full VisualVault solutions family. Everything described in this document is net-new functionality relative to the prior HR Survey application.
New Features
ERM-1130, ERM-1431 - Employee Search and Employee Detail
The Employee Search page is the primary entry point for HR staff. It provides a searchable, filterable list of all employees across the organization, with sort controls on all key columns. Clicking an employee opens the Employee Detail page, which surfaces the full field set (employment status, department, hire date, contact information, and all custom fields) in a structured, tabbed layout. Employee records can be created, edited, and managed directly within ERM without requiring access to the underlying VisualVault platform.
ERM-1131 - Document Management
Each employee record includes a Documents tab where HR staff can view, upload, and manage all documents associated with that employee. The Upload Documents modal supports multiple files in a single batch, with Document Type and Subfolder classification for each file. Documents are stored and served via the VisualVault document library and are accessible from the Employee record, the Audit record, and the Document Viewer within ERM.
ERM-1406 - Document Viewer
ERM includes a full-featured document viewer for reviewing employee and audit documents in the browser without downloading. The viewer supports navigation between documents within an employee or audit context, displays document index fields alongside the content, and provides download access. The viewer is built on the shared VisualVault document viewer component and is available to all applications that inherit ERM's component library.
ERM-1129 - Audit Management
The Audit module allows HR teams to create and manage compliance audit records. Each Audit record contains four tabs: Details, Employees, Documents, and Internal Audit. The Audit List page provides an overview of all audits with status, date, and employee count. Documents can be uploaded directly to an audit, and employees can be added to or removed from an audit record.
Note: "Audit" was formerly called "Survey" in earlier versions. The codebase may still reference the legacy terminology, but all user-facing labels use "Audit."
ERM-1132 - HR Dashboard
The HR Dashboard gives administrators a high-level view of key employee and document metrics. KPI cards surface counts for active employees, terminated employees, documents filed, and audit-related metrics. Charts visualize employee activity trends over time and document distribution by type. The dashboard is the default landing page for authenticated users.
ERM-1410 - Document Type Standardization
Document types in ERM are managed centrally rather than entered as free text. Administrators can create, edit, duplicate, and deactivate document types from Settings. Each document type carries granular role permissions independently of the broader resource permission model. A built-in "All Document Types" entry provides a catch-all permission layer. Across the application, all document type selections draw from the centrally managed list.
ERM-1136 - Settings
The Settings area provides administrators with centralized control over application configuration. Key sections include:
Customers — manage customer connections, identity configuration, and database settings. ERM-1136
Configuration — customer-facing settings including field configuration and Missing Documents display preferences. ERM-1136
Document Types — the centrally managed document type list with role permission configuration per type. ERM-1410
Audit Types — configure the audit category types available when creating new Audit records. ERM-1136
ERM-1133, ERM-1407 - Roles and Permissions Framework
ERM 2.0 includes the foundational Roles and Permissions infrastructure: a modern role-based access control (RBAC) system that coincides with VisualVault Security Group model. The system introduces:
Three built-in system roles — Admin, Manager, and Employee which cannot be deleted and serve as the baseline access model. ERM-1133
Custom role creation, with all permissions defaulting to off on creation. ERM-1694
Resource Permissions — granular View, Create, Edit, and Delete access per named ERM resource. ERM-1469, ERM-1470, ERM-1471, ERM-1472, ERM-1474, ERM-1475
Role Modal — a unified interface for configuring a role's resource permissions, user assignments, and administrative capabilities. ERM-1407
Delete Role — user-created roles can be deleted when not assigned to any users; system roles are protected. ERM-1422
Permissions Test mode — administrators can impersonate any user to verify access configurations. ERM-1427
ERM-1408 - Employee Master: Database Migration
In the prior HR Survey application, employee records were stored in VisualVault iForms. ERM 2.0 migrates the Employee Master to a purpose-built relational database within ERM, using Sequelize ORM against Microsoft SQL Server. This provides better query performance, a cleaner data model, and the foundation for all employee-centric features in the 2.x roadmap.
ERM-1705 - Standardized Database Architecture
The ERM 2.0 codebase adopts a standardized database migration pattern aligned with the other VisualVault solutions. The architecture uses Sequelize ORM with a well-established schema migration workflow, replacing the non-standard approach used in prior versions.
Bug Fixes
ERM-1491 - A dedicated bug-fix effort addressed functional issues and stability regressions identified during pre-release testing. Key areas addressed include:
Employee Search: corrected search behavior after pagination, eliminated stale search history in modals, and resolved search field failures in some configurations. ERM-186, ERM-519
Audit records: fixed inability to delete audits, resolved incorrect status handling during create/edit workflows, and corrected date display issues on the Audit list. ERM-109, ERM-284, ERM-114
Document upload: resolved duplicate document entries in grids, corrected the search function in the Include Documents modal, and fixed a "view documents" failure. ERM-509, ERM-513, ERM-525
Coordinator Screen: fixed record selection issues, corrected sort order on the Definite column, and resolved a missing search result problem. ERM-187, ERM-516, ERM-202
Grid and pagination: fixed inconsistent items-per-page behavior and scroll bar disappearing on tabbed views. ERM-518, ERM-510
Accessibility: resolved keyboard navigation issues including Tab key focus getting stuck between date fields, and addressed row highlighting inconsistencies. ERM-506, ERM-311
Security: resolved a critical SQL injection vulnerability across multiple query paths, and corrected inefficient database connection pool management. ERM-370, ERM-371
Session and connectivity: fixed an object session creation issue that caused intermittent failures under concurrent load. ERM-444