Horizon Newsletter • February 4, 2025
Route 52 (Mile Marker Five): Read-Only Mode

Click here to watch the video on YouTube.

You're on Route 52 with XBE. For 52 straight Mondays during 2025, we're announcing something new and exciting.

We've reached Mile Marker Five, Read-Only Mode.

If you want the freedom to explore XBE's ever growing capabilities without fear of messing something up, this stop's for you.

Here's the backstory. In March 2020, as Banks Construction was just getting started with XBE, CEO Reid Banks accidentally cancelled a night job, automatically notifying drivers that all their shifts were off. The next morning, Savannah Hathaway at Banks emailed our founder, Sean Devine (that's me!) about how to prevent mishaps like that in the future.

I replied, "Reid-Only Mode ;)".

So five years later, we've delivered on that idea, giving users with robust permissions the option to switch into Reid-Only Mode -- no accidental job cancellations or other changes are possible. Someone else can even turn on the feature for you, making it easier to control risk and safely onboard users.

Why add this feature? XBE provides a tremendous amount of information that's valuable to everyone in your organization. From C-level executives to new hires, it's important for people to use the platform to discover what's happening without any worry about making an unintended change.

Read-Only Mode is about peace of mind. Whether you're training new users, browsing for information, or double checking your night's job schedule, you can do it safely. Even if your role normally has the power to adjust job details, you can toggle on Read-Only Mode and avoid altering anything by mistake. You still see everything you need and can take limited action like making comments, but the feature ensures you don't impact the operation.

Read-Only Mode is part of our SuperPower initiative, which aims to make the platform easier to use as we add capabilities -- the opposite of most enterprise software.

So go ahead, jump into XBE, toggle on Read-Only Mode and explore without fear.

Stay tuned next week for Mile Marker Six.

If you're an XBE user, check out the release note for more details.