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Designer release notes 2026

Q3 2026

28 September, 2026

For administrators

Designer deployment requires a matching Web Service version

From Q3 2026, Designer can only deploy to a Web Service running the same version. See full details.

Query optimisation defaults to level 5

The Apteco engine's query optimisation setting now defaults to level 5.

This change takes effect automatically with no configuration required. If level 5 optimisation is not suitable for your environment, you can override this setting manually in the FastStats Configurator.

Extended support for optimised queries

The Apteco engine's query optimisations now cover more scenarios, including bitmapped and primary selector variables across both single-table and multi-table queries.

Bug fixes

  • Fixed an issue where invalid characters (such as a full stop) in a Dynamic Data Source folder description could cause Designer to enter an infinite loop and hang. Designer now warns you about invalid folder names or descriptions.
  • Fixed an issue with the Enhanced Build Process where the Combine Categories post-load action could fail with an "ultimate parent source variable does not match group level" error.
  • Fields used internally for delta processing, such as delete flags and SPL lookup reference keys, are now automatically hidden from you.
  • New system database installations on SQL Express had auto-close enabled by default. This has been changed for new systems to remove the startup latency that occurred when a database is first accessed.

Q2 2026

5 June, 2026

New BCP extract optimisation

Designer now supports an optimised BCP extract method using SQL Native (binary) format. Previously, extracts used ANSI or Unicode format, which required conversion and introduced parsing risks when source data contained delimiters, control characters, or NULL values. The new method extracts data in SQL Native format first, then converts to UTF-8 or ANSI as required.

To use the new method, configure a BCP connection in the usual way and select Binary as the clean method.

New Delta builds on Single Parent Lookup tables

You can now use delta table builds on Single Parent Lookup (SPL) tables. This lets Designer extract data incrementally, processing only new or changed records on subsequent builds instead of the full dataset each time.

To enable delta processing on an SPL, you define a reference field on the SPL in your design. Designer loads this as a numeric or text variable rather than a true reference type, since FastStats doesn't support reference variables on SPLs.

Bug fixes

  • Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) connection strings now use the correct brace quoting for field names rather than double quotes when configured through Designer.
  • Dates extracted via BCP are now formatted correctly and no longer fall into Unclassified because of an incorrect code size.
  • Could not create relationship messages are now correctly reported as errors in the build log rather than informational messages.
  • Enabling the Reset System Explorer on Login option no longer causes FastStats to lose user settings such as favourites, templates, and charting palettes.

Q1 2026

25 March, 2026

New Enhanced build process can exclude orphan records

The Enhanced Build Process now includes an option to exclude orphan records during the build, which guarantees referential integrity in your resulting system.

When enabled, Designer loads only records that maintain valid relationships between tables, improving data quality for systems where referential integrity is critical.

New Multiparent lookup supports large DAT files

You can now use multiparent lookup (join at query time) with lookup files that create DAT files larger than 2 GB.

New Bulk import and export variable definitions

You can now copy and paste complete variable definitions between Designer and external applications like spreadsheets. This helps you keep systems synchronised with existing data dictionaries and reduces manual configuration errors.

New Build process protection from system interruptions

Designer now protects your system builds from unexpected interruptions caused by Windows logoff, restart, or automatic updates.

Improved Enhanced build reporting for invalid URNs

The build process now reports invalid URNs separately from duplicate URNs to provide clearer diagnostics. When your system contains invalid reference values, Designer displays the count of blank URNs and duplicate URNs as distinct metrics. It no longer combines them into a single duplicate count.

New Census 2021 data support

Designer now supports importing UK Census 2021 data as dynamic data sources. You can append demographic variables to household addresses for profiling and segmentation.

The census data covers eight topics: demographics, education, ethnic group, health, housing, international migration, labour market, and travel to work. Designer provides each topic as a FastStats Data Package that you can import into your system.

The data uses semi-decile codes (01-20) to rank postcodes by the proportion of each census response. This makes it easy to use in selections, cubes, profiles, clusters, and models.

  • Coverage: England and Wales only.
  • Licensing: Free to FastStats licence holders under the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Open Government Licence.

For installation instructions, see 2021 Census data.

Bug fixes

  • You can now autodetect date ranges correctly when your data contains extreme or invalid date values.
  • Fixed an issue where Designer incorrectly applied precision values to Integer numeric types in Dynamic Data Sources, causing inaccurate load statistics.
  • Load statistics no longer display incorrect minimum and maximum values for float and double variable types when you set precision.
  • You can now match on descriptions when using the Import Data wizard to map file columns to variable values.
  • You can now use the Import Data wizard with file paths that contain special characters such as umlauts (ä, ö, ü), even when connecting to a system via a web service.