Upgrades

General Information

Monthly Upgrades

Upgrades are released on a monthly basis.

The benefits of this approach are as follows:

• The upgrades will be performed in smaller batches.
• New features will come on-stream faster, as we can fast track key enhancements into early updates.

We will provide a list of updates and schedule for both the backup and production servers on this Wiki page.

This page will provide a general overview of each upgrade, with links to the Wiki articles describing the new or updated features and how to use them. You can also subscribe to the Technical Journal that is sent out prior to each upgrade on the Newsletter Signup Page. (Unsubscribe here).

System Upgrade Process

The objective of the System Upgrade Process is to ensure that customers have a chance to review, without compromising the integrity of their production system, how their applications and information will work following the upgrade. In order to take advantage of this you will need to know how to access your backup instance of SmartSimple. If you need assistance with this either refer to the Backup Server and Testing Instances Wiki article, or contact the SmartSimple support desk.

Backup Server Update

• Each backup server will be updated to the "release candidate" prior to the upgrade date.
• This update will provide for instance specific testing of release candidate, as you can log into your respective backup server and test the changes against your most current data and configuration.
• Internal staff will also be using these servers to perform instance specific testing.

Update Go/No-Go

• Subject to satisfactory testing on both the pre-production server and the production backup servers, the go/no go decision will be made on Wednesday at 12:00pm.

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Current Upgrade Package: August 2013

The following server will be upgraded on Tuesday, August 6, 2013 at 10pm EST.

• smartsimple3.biz

The following servers will be upgraded on Thursday, August 8, 2013 at 10pm EST.

• smartsimple.com
• smartsimple2.biz
• smartsimple4.biz
• smartsimple.ca
• smartsimple.us
• smartsimple.biz
• smartsimple.ie (after 10pm Local Time)
• smartsimple.co.za (after 10pm Local Time)
• factorial.ca
• frontdeskinc.net

Important: The upgrade will be applied to your backup server one week prior to the scheduled upgrade date for your production server.
You are encouraged to log into your backup server during this period to test the changes against your most recent data and configuration. 

If your organization has a dedicated SmartSimple server or you host in-house, SmartSimple will be in contact with your system administrator to schedule the upgrade of your server after August 8. The following features will be implemented as part of the upgrade cycle commencing in August 2013:

Watch this video to get a general overview of the new features in our August 2013 upgrade.

To watch these videos full screen, click on the YouTube link

Global System Upgrades

The new features listed below are enhancements to the SmartSimple system and will be immediately available to SmartSimple users upon the application of the upgrade to your server:

Multiple User-Selected Recipients for Workflow Messages

System administrators can configure workflow tasks to prompt the user that triggers the workflow to choose the recipient of a workflow-generated email message. With this enhancement, the user can choose multiple recipients of the workflow-generated email message. See Selecting Recipients in an Acknowledgment Workflow for further information.

Enhancements to Notes Functionality

• Notes can now be added to the configuration pages for Templates, Types, Statuses and Custom Fields. This will allow system administrators to keep track of changes to their system configuration.
• Notes are also now available for viewing and editing when a record is in Edit mode.

On-Demand System Upgrades

The following features are also available immediately with the application of the upgrade, but must first be enabled by a System Administrator:

Bypass Validation Option on Submit Buttons

System Administrators can create submit buttons for records which move the records to a different status and trigger the field validation and submit logic on that record. A new setting has been added, labelled "Bypass Validation," that will allow the user to move a record to a different status without triggering the field validation. System Administrators will now be able to allow users to change a record back to "Draft" status, for example, without having to fill out all the mandatory fields on a record.

Subreports can be Linked using Column Values in Main Report

When creating a subreport, system administrators can now specify that the reports should be linked using values from a column of the parent report. This allows for a greater flexibility in creating sub-reports, as administrators are no longer limited to using standard fields to link main reports and subreports, and can now specify a custom field.

Transaction List Views

List Views can now be defined for transactions to match the list view functionality for other system objects.

Email Template Categories

When creating an email template, a new feature, "Categories" has been added. You can select one of the following options:

• General – Email Template will be available in all contexts
• UTA Level 1 – Email Template will only be available when sending an email from a UTA Level 1
• UTA Level 2 & 3 – Email Template will only be available when sending an email from a UTA Level 2 or Level 3
• Contact – Email Template will only be available when sending an email from a contact record

Portal Design Enhancements

When designing a portal interface, system administrators can choose SmartSimple's "Classic" style with a left navigation bar and shortcut icons, or choose the new "Contemporary" portal design style. Web designers can create custom HTML to customize the "Contemporary" portal design to match the look and feel of your organization's website. A new section has been added to the Portal Design page, titled "Body Introduction," which allows portal designers to add instructions, report statistics and system variables above the user's portal.

Hide Notification of Locked Record

A new setting has been added to the Global Settings page labeled "Hide record lock from user who has the record locked." When enabled, this setting will prevent the system from displaying the message notifying a user that they have checked out a record for editing purposes. See Record Lock for further information.

If you would like to receive the Technical Journal you may subscribe here

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Previous Upgrades

Click on the links below to find detailed information on previous upgrades.

• The date listed indicates when the upgrade cycle commenced. Not all servers were upgraded on that date.