This update will include changes affecting backwards compatibility.

SHOTPlus™ has undergone a refactor of it’s blasthole data structure. This work was undertaken to improve integration between SHOTPlus™ and BlastIQ™ to better align the information presented to users when comparing blast design information as well as blast outcomes within the BlastIQ™ ecosystem.

What does this mean for users:

• Existing files, saved in versions prior to SHOTPlus™ 6.14.2, will still open in newer versions moving forward.
• Existing files, saved in the newer SHOTPlus™ 6.14.2 and onwards, will no longer be compatible with prior versions.
• Existing Text Import and Text Export Templates using superseded terminology for data fields will link to data fields with new terminology on first use.

Due to the above compatibility issues it is recommended that updates of for SHOTPlus™ are completed ASAP for all users.

Detailed information of these changes can be found in this Knowledge Base Article: SHOTPlus™ Blasthole Refactor

An inconsistency between SHOTPlus™ and BlastIQ™ with regards to the handling of 'Wet States' for the application of 'Wet' Charging Rules has been identified. Users should be aware of the following:

When using Graphical Charging Rules in SHOTPlus™, holes are considered 'Wet' for the application of Wet Charging Rules when the measured amount of water exceeds the 'Wet State' tolerance for the particular Hole Type. However, once charging rules are exported to BlastIQ™ a hole is considered wet when the measured amount of water is > 0.

This inconsistency will be rectified in upcoming releases of SHOTPlus™ and BlastIQ™ Mobile. Until rectified, SHOTPlus™ will display a warning message when exporting to BlastIQ™ with rules that may be affected by this inconsistency.

This inconsistency does not impact users who are using traditional charging rules.

Blasthole Refactor

A blasthole data and terminology restructure has been undertaken to rationalise Design/Drill/Measurement data. The new blasthole data structure is designed to also improve integration between SHOTPlus™ and BlastIQ™. This includes the following changes:

1. More properties can now be stored against blastholes.¹ 
2. "Actual" terminology has been removed for blasthole data.²
3. "Drilled" terminology has been introduced and standardised.
4. "Measured" terminology has been introduced and standardised.
5. Introduction of "Surveyed Collar" properties.
6. Introduction of "Adjusted Design Length".^{3, 4} 
7. Design hole properties can be nullable when holes are imported from BlastIQ™.⁵

Exclusion Area Tool

1. "Exclusion Zone Tool" has been renamed to "Exclusion Area Tool" for consistency of terminology across regions. 
2. Users can now enter a different flyrock "k" factor for each flyrock mode i.e. face bursts, cratering, stemming ejection.
3. The minimum burden calculation is now much more accurate and is based on charge deck position.¹
4. More charge deck types are considered for the flyrock calculations.
5. Air decks that are contiguous with explosive decks are now considered as explosive decks for the purposes of the calculations.²
6. The design charge mass/m for decoupled explosive types is now used for the "Exclusion Area Tool".³
7. Exclusion Area Tool page added to 'Edit' > 'Blast Properties'. Users can define template default values to be used in the Exclusion Area Tool from this page.⁴
8. Added "Calculation Details" when using "Blast Properties" and "Measured (where available)" for charge weight basis.⁵

Expansion of Plan Tolerances

1. Addition of new Hole Type specific loading Tolerances.
   • Absolute Overweight.
   • Absolute Underweight.
   • Percentage Overweight.
   • Percentage Underweight.
   • Absolute Understemmed.
   • Absolute Overstemmed.
2. Tolerances user interface added to 'Blast Properties' > 'Tolerances'.
3. Tolerances user interface split into:
   • Drilling Tolerances.
   • Hole State Tolerances.
   • Loading Tolerances.
4. Tolerances data entry improved to enable bulk action for multiple hole types.

Other New Features

1. Added checkbox to enable or disable, the ability to evaluate tolerances using "Adjusted Design Length", found by selecting 'Edit' > 'Blast Properties' > 'Hole Tolerances'
2. Added a "Survey Assessment" workflow:
   • Users can capture plan and face views of their survey data to add to a "Survey Assessment" report. 
   • The output report will gives users a print out showing the captured images with a useful summary of survey data points.¹
3. Added support for TruPulse hole deviation data via the Hole Deviation Tool.
4. Added Volume Calculation 'modes' that can be adjusted to improve performance when working with SHOTPlus™ files with a large amount of holes.²
5. Added the ability to copy BlastIQ™ Tags and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) when copying holes between plans using BlastIQ™.
6.  Existing WebGen™ encoding paths can now be edited to include existing holes that were not originally connected.

1. The Edit Hole dialog has been re-designed to suit the new blasthole data structure.¹
2. The Text Importer and Exporter has been updated to match the new blasthole data structure¹. 
   • Added "Drill Data" tab which contains fields to match the new "Drill data" properties.
   • Updated Measurements tab with deprecated fields removed, and new fields added.^2,3
   • Added validation for minimum required fields when importing drilled data to ensure consistency when synchronising data to BlastIQ™.⁴ 
   • If the minimum sets of drill data fields are not imported a warning message will appear. The user has the ability to continue, with the caveat that some fields will be inferred for export to BlastIQ™.
   • Added validation to check drill data being imported is for holes that already exist in the plan or is a re-drill of an existing hole.
3. "Hole Table" has been updated to match the new blasthole data structure.
   • "Drill Adjusted Design Length" has been added to the "Hole Data" tab.
   • "Actual Length" has been renamed "Measured Length".
4. Other improvements on SHOTPlus™ and BlastIQ™ integration with the following:
   • Consistency of charging rules when using "Loading Tables" and hole length intervals are not defined.⁵ 
   • Added validation when exporting plan with inferred drill data to BlastIQ™. A new warning has been added when this occurs.⁶
   • Added validation when exporting plan with inferred design data to BlastIQ™. A new warning has been added when this occurs.⁷
   • Improved warning message when BlastIQ™ site has invalid Blast Control License.
5. The Exclusion Area Tool polygon mark-out logic has been improved when using the "Manual Entries" as a calculation method.⁸
6. A new warning has been added when exporting "Charging" or "Initiation" rules to quarry type sites. This is to alert the user that the dynamic rules aren't supported, however the loading design that exists already will still be exported.
7. Ability to import design holes using toe centric coordinate data.⁹
8. "Clear Actuals" has been removed from Edit Hole dialog, and moved to 'Tools' > 'Holes' > 'Clear Actuals'.
9. Additional options have been added to "Clear Actuals".¹⁰
10. The 3D distance calculation used in the "Profile Wizard" and print out reports has been improved.¹¹
11. SHOTPlus™ will update the setting to 'Calculate Tolerances using Adjusted Design Length' for backfills/re-drills based on the same imported setting from the BlastIQ™ site.
12. The expanded/collapsed state of the each group in the "Filter and Search", "Visibility Manager" views will be saved and displayed again on restart of the application. 
13. "Profile Wizard" improvements:
    • "Best Available" information is used for the hole.  This does not replace the hole deviation track if available.
    • The tool now handles holes that have no "Grade RL" value.
    • Improved the look of the hole schematic by removing the toe point cross.
14. The logic for Profile Charging Rules has been clarified via user interface improvements, and aligned with Strata Definition rules.¹²
15. The logic for Strata Definition Rules has been clarified via user interface improvements.¹²
16. Profile Log indicator now shows when turned on, regardless of visibility of Hole ID.
17. Minimum deck length for all Profile Alternatives is now a global setting.¹³
18. Lead-in indicator for WebGen™ 100 and WebGen™ 200 initiation designed changed to BID.
19. 'Profile Loading Alternative' dialog renamed 'Profile Charging Rules'.
20. Users will now be given the option to choose another licencing option when failing to licence SHOTPlus™ with a BlastIQ™ Licence.
21. 'Layer' property can now be imported for Polylines via the Text Importer.
22. New loading icon added in the 'Survey Assessment' dialog.
23. When importing new blastholes via the text importer, users can import Collar Coordinates only.¹⁴
24. Updated warning message when exporting plans to BlastIQ™ sites of type 'Quarry'.
25. Exclusion Area Tool resized to fit to reduce blank space.
26. Improved the 3D distance calculation between blastholes and registered Face surfaces.
27. Hole depth range is now a condition for Graphical Charging Rules.
28. Blasthole labelling in SHOTPlus™ Standard improved to align with SHOTPlus™ Premier.
29. When adding surface harness wire; users are now warned when the limit of an existing EBS lead-in is exceeded.
30. 'Set Blast Orientation' and 'Reset Orientation' added to the select tool right-click menu.
31. Improved placement of Blastholes when using the 'Add holes' tool and rotated off-axis.¹⁵
32. Blast bounds tool ( 'Tools' > 'General functions' > 'Create blast bounds') improved:
    1. Tool can now be used to generate a blast boundary at the Hole Collar, Hole Grade, or Hole Toe level.
    2. Offset from holes can now be differential in inter-row and intra-row directions.
    3. Tool can now apply smoothing to reflect realistic dig lines.
33. Volume Overview ('View' > 'Volume overview') Improved:
    • Added the ability to view hole volumes at different stages¹⁶:
      • Design.¹⁷
      • Updated Design.¹⁸
      • Drilled.¹⁹
    • Updated Visibility Manager.
    • Added 'Results Manager'.
    • Repositioned 'Selected Volume' to Results Manager.
    • Added the ability to limit volume to 'user defined boundaries'.²⁰
34. Updated 'Design' volume to align with BlastIQ™ definition.¹⁶
35. Removed 'Actual' volume.²¹
36. Added 'Adjusted Design' volume.¹⁸
37. Added 'Drilled volume.¹⁹
38. Improved warning messages, regarding BlastIQ™ functionality, that are displayed when exporting a plan.²²
39. Enabled setting the profile slice for a hole with measurements within the profile wizard.
40. Analytics view now evaluates hole state based on the Drill Adjusted Design Length, where Drill Adjusted Design Length is enabled.
41. Redundant 'Backbreak' and 'Sidebreak' values shown in the Markout Wizard have been deprecated.
42. Top of Deck and Weight Loading Accuracy Analytics View windows are now evaluated based on Hole Type Tolerances.
43. 24 Intercepts now available by default for SHOTPlus™ Premier users.

1. When users attempted to import drill holes using toe centric coordinates, the imported holes would incorrectly interpret the toe coordinate data as collar coordinates.¹ 
2. Holes that were marked as "Not Drilled" or "Abandoned" were displayed in the "Analytics View" window even if the checkboxes to show these holes was turned off.
3. The "Save Recovery File" time interval in "Program Settings" > "General" dialog was not obeyed. 
4. Sometimes when using profile loading rules, continuous loading decks with the same product types were not merging. Editing loading decks and manually merging decks was also not working. This has been fixed. 
5. When using the text importer, the preview window would not stay focused on user's horizontal scroll position. After each new column field was mapped, the preview window would  'jump' to the left, this has been fixed. 
6. The "Test Rules" functionality in "Edit Loading Rules" was limiting the "Hole Types" and "Material Types" that could be tested. The maximum allowable is now 24.
7. Loading comments from BlastIQ™ Mobile were not displaying in SHOTPlus™ unless the hole also had "Drilled" or "Measured" data in the import. 
8. There was inconsistency in how the "Move/Copy Entities" functionality worked. 
9. The "Profile Logging" dialog was not scaling the X axis correctly in the hole trace graph, causing a single loaded trace to appear hard to distinguish.
10. "Monte Carlo"/"AVM" predictions were not working for plans that had holes marked as "Not Drilled", when it is should be allowed. 
11. An error was being thrown when importing data that has the "Depth to Water" value = the hole length, this scenario was not handled properly. 
12. The "Profile Tool" report was not printing all the necessary pages for each hole when the burden table was too long.
13. The "Drill Variance (elev)" view in "Analytics View" was not highlighting holes when the variance was exactly the value used for comparison.
14. "Wet Sides" rule was not applying properly in some situations
15. In the "Profile Wizard", the "Step down burdens" were not showing to the grade level of some holes. 
16. The "Profile Wizard" was incorrectly displaying items on the hole schematic.
17. Holes added to rows, were being added in the incorrect location in certain situations.
18. In certain circumstances the Exclusion Area Tool was calculating an incorrect Horizontal Distance.
19. Editing multiple holes via the edit dialog tool was causing the Hole Track of all selected holes to be projected to a single point.
20. An exception was occurring when connecting multiple holes for a WebGen™ 100 or WebGen™ 200 blast.
21. Validation error shown incorrectly when importing measurements using the text importer.
22. Validation error when exporting Graphical Loading Rules to BlastIQ™.
23. In certain circumstances backfill decks added to holes were of an incorrect length.
24. An unhanded error was occurring when attempting to update SHOTPlus™ with multiple applications instances open.
25. Grade RL indicator was being removed from hole diagrams after loading was applied.
26. Drill Data tab in the Text Importer was not being disabled when importing 3D points or polylines.
27. MSW Calculation was giving error under certain conditions.
28. Vibration monitoring points were removed from the Time Window if removed and then re-added to the plan.
29. Moving any entity using the 'Move Copy Entities' tool was causing a null reference exception.
30. WebGen™ Primers were not being shown in the EBS Logging Report.
31. Graphical Charging Rules were not capturing all hole depths due to rounding of hole lengths for display.
32. Quantities Report not being updated when Loading Rule reapplication triggered due to text import.
33. Grade R.L. was not being updated when the design properties of a hole were updated.
34. Design blasthole length was not being updated correctly when the 'drill to' properties of a hole were updated.
35. Users were not prevented from entering a Grade elevation that was above the Collar elevation.
36. Holes with a Drill Adjusted Design Length were not correctly being assigned a Backfill deck in all situations.
37. Existing EBS lead-ins were changing from Logger II to Logger I when opening the EBS logging report.
38. Deleting a WebGen™ encoding sequence between two holes was deleting the exiting Encoder lead-in.
39. 'Import Carlson DRL Files' menu option missing from the Premier version of SHOTPlus™.
40. Slice direction of measured holes was not being updated correctly based on measured data.
41. Burden indicators in the profile wizard were being projected beyond the measured face surface.
42. Visibility Manager behaviour was not consistent when the manager was not fully visible.
43. When loading a Loading Rule file, the user interface was not updating to show the rules in all cases.
44. 'Place new rule below the currently selected rule' setting was not correctly positioning new rules.
45. Adjust Intervals tool was not adjusting intervals correctly when using the Maximum Instantaneous Charge setting.
46. Lasso tool was not drawn on-screen when off-axis in the volume overview tool.
47. Not selecting a Hole Type for additional holes added by an i-kon™ Logger II import was causing a null reference exception.
48. Fixed a spelling error in the BlastIQ™ licencing dialog.
49. Grade RL was not persisting when adding holes in certain situations.
50. Wet State Tolerance was incorrectly set to 0.1 minimum value.
51. Edit opening point dialog was not opening in certain situations.
52. SHOTPlus™ was getting stuck in an infinite loop on the BlastIQ™ export dialog.
53. Removing Boretrack data from holes was not re-setting the measurements for a hole.
54. Holes were incorrectly shown as 'Overdrilled' in Hole Depth Variance View when the Measured and Design length were equal.