This article lists the issues we know about from Biotics 6 conversions, along with their current workarounds. The Status column shows whether each issue has been permanently addressed. We update this page as fixes are released. If your issue isn’t listed here, please submit a Help Desk ticket.
Status key:
- Open: We’re working on a fix.
- Workaround available: A temporary fix is in place.
- Resolved: Permanently fixed; the date is shown.
- By design: This is expected behavior.
- Not currently supported: This isn’t available right now.
- Works as designed: The feature already works this way.
New Map
| Issue | Who it affects | Workaround | Status | Date addressed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ArcGIS Online (AGOL) login prompt appears and comes back each time the map is refreshed | Programs with AGOL services in their layer library | Use the legacy map viewer. Review your layer library and remove any layers you no longer need. | FIXED | 10/23/26 |
| No Save to Working List option in the Feature Table | All programs | Use the legacy map. | DEFERRED | |
| No Search and Filter by Working List | All programs | Use the legacy map. | DEFERRED | |
| Map opens to North America instead of your subnation | All programs | Zoom to your area manually, or use the legacy map. | DEFERRED | |
| Scale bar can cover the table icon and the minimize map button | All programs | Zoom in or out slightly so the scale bar resizes and uncovers the buttons. | DEFERRED | |
| Clicking “Update QC Status” seems to do nothing | All programs | Scroll down the sidebar to the Create and Update section, or collapse the Layers and Search and Filter sections first. | DEFERRED | |
| Measure tools don’t seem to have a way to finish a line or polygon | All programs | Double-click to finish a measurement in both Measure Distance and Measure Area. | Works as designed | n/a |
| Error bulk deleting SF in Biotics 6 | All Programs | Fixed | 10/23/26 | |
| Quad layer not showing in western US in either map | All Programs | Fix Pending | ||
| Feature Search fails when using complex spatial filters due to GIS portal WAF rules | All Programs | Fix Pending | ||
| ESRI API Function error when trying to create poly SF from multiple shapes within a map resource | All Programs | Fix Pending | ||
| Unable to create SF polygon from more than three uploaded points | All Programs | Fix Pending |
Main Application
| Issue | Who it affects | Workaround | Status | Date addressed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saving a record gives a generic 403 Forbidden error after text is pasted from Word or a PDF into a rich-text field | All programs | Paste as plain text (Ctrl+Shift+V), or remove the pasted formatting in the editor’s Source view, then save. We are working on being able to reproduce this error | Workaround available | |
| EO and SF IDs increase by 33 and not 1 as expected. | All programs | PostgreSQL sequences never guarantee gap-free values. This is an expected behavior in Postgres and will not be addressed. | Won't Fix | na |
MFA / Passwords
| Issue | Who it affects | Workaround | Status | Date addressed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A user loses access to the device they used to set up MFA or MFA does not work correctly. MFA needs to be reset | All Programs | Submit a ticket to the Help Desk and we can reset the MFA account. We are working on a fix where the program administrator can do this themselves. | Open | |
| Rotating the database password does nothing or gives an error | Programs whose organization uses a browser-level security tool (for example, Cloudflare client-side security) | Ask your IT department whether such a tool is in use and whether it can exclude your Biotics URL. Contact the Help Desk if the problem continues. | Open (under investigation) | |
| A program’s only administrator loses their MFA device and can’t reset it | Programs with a single administrator | If you have a Central Biotics account, you can update your MFA setting there. Otherwise, contact the Help Desk. | Open |
Database / pgAdmin
| Issue | Who it affects | Workaround | Status | Date addressed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Can’t connect to Biotics 6 from an expected location | Programs whose IPs changed, are missing from the whitelist, or connect through a VPN | Watch for your IP review email 3 weeks before conversion and reply at least 1 week before. If you connect through a VPN, ask your IT department for the VPN’s IP range and include it. Contact the Help Desk for any changes after conversion. | Workaround available | |
| Can’t connect on a port other than the default (5432) | Programs whose network blocks port 5432 | Not currently supported. Contact the Help Desk to discuss options. | Not currently supported | n/a |
| A query can’t be cancelled in pgAdmin while connected with biotics_ext_admin_role | Power users connecting directly to the database | Only connect with this role when you are changing database objects. To cancel a query, open a second connection without the role, go to the Dashboard’s State tab, find your session, and stop it. This is a known pgAdmin bug that pgAdmin doesn’t plan to fix. | Workaround available | |
| Shared or central BI reporting accounts can’t be created | All converted programs | Create a dedicated BI reporting user (with a unique email address) after conversion. Its password rotates every 60 days. | By design | n/a |
| Local database isn’t Postgres (Esri SDE/Oracle, SQL Server), so the pg_dump file can’t be loaded directly | Programs that keep a local copy of their database | [Add your guidance] | Open |
Crystal Reports
| Issue | Who it affects | Workaround | Status | Date addressed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crystal Reports don’t recognize Oracle CLOB fields after the Postgres migration | Programs with custom Crystal reports | NatureServe has converted the core reports. For your custom reports, use the documented CLOB conversion process and start with the ones you rely on most. | Workaround available | |
| Crystal Reports is giving a password error | Programs with Crystal Reports | See Crystal Reports Documentation | Won't Fix | na |