General Information

The SmartSimple platform is upgraded with new features and enhancements approximately every 2 to 3 months.

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" one week 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 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.

WebEx

There will be a Pre-Release WebEx session the week prior to each upgrade that will provide technical details on how to implement and use the new features and enhancements.
Topic: SmartSimple May 2011 Upgrade
Date: Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Time: 11:00 am, EST
Meeting Number: 576 959 334
Meeting Password: Tech39

We have arranged a toll-free teleconference using the following numbers:

416-343-4997 (Local dial-in)
1-866-440-4486 (Toll free dial-in)
800-2355-0000 (Global dial-in)

Teleconference ID: 8914632
Webex Link: https://smartsimple.webex.com

Next Upgrade: 19 May and 2 June 2011

The next upgrade cycle will commence on the 19th of May, 2011.

The following server will be upgraded on Thursday 19 May, 2011 at 10pm EST:

smartsimple.biz

The backup server (*.smartsimplebk.biz) will be upgraded on Thursday May 5th for testing.

The following servers will be upgraded on Thursday 2 June, 2011 at 10pm EST.

smartsimple.com
smartsimple.ca
smartsimple.ie
smartsimple2.biz
smartsimple3.biz

The associated backup servers will be upgraded on Thursday 26th May for testing.

Important: The upgrade will be applied to your backup server 1 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. Backup Server and Testing Instances

If your organization has a dedicated SmartSimple server or you host in-house the support team will be in contact with your system administrator to schedule the upgrade of your server after May 31st.

The following is a partial list of the features that are scheduled to be included.

Note: this list is subject to revision.

Security

Hierarchical Password Policy

A different password policy can be defined for each company which will automatically apply to all sub-companies in the hierarchy, unless they have defined their own password policy.

Persistent Login

Rather than having to log in to SmartSimple each time you open your web browser, a "cookie" can be installed on your computer that will automatically authenticate you, allowing you to bypass the login screen. (This setting can be enabled or disabled by your system administrator).

Email Restriction

The ability to send e-mails from within SmartSimple can be restricted by user role.

Backup Server Access

Access to the backup server can be disabled for all non-Global User Administrator accounts.

SSencrypt Command

A new command called ssencrypt allows object IDs to be encrypted manually.

URL Parameter Encryption

A new setting will encrypt object IDs such as userid, companyid, activity. This enhances security by making it impossible to guess URLs.

Standard and Custom Fields

Standard Field Edit Condition

A conditional statement can be entered to control whether standard fields appear as editable or read only. The conditions can be based on role, status, or other criteria. This feature applies to company, contact and Universal Tracking Application standard fields.

Custom Field Language Display

The captions displayed on custom fields can be configured for multiple languages. When viewing a record the personal language setting for each user will determine which language is displayed to them.

New Custom Field Type: Special - Hand Drawing

This field type stores freehand drawings done either with a mouse or touch sensitive screen. The background image can be defined, as well as the colours to be used and patterns/images that can be "stamped" onto the image.

Enable Camera Snapshot

The "Display Only - Image" custom field has a setting that enables a web cam attached to the computer to be used as the source of the image to be stored in this field type.

Document Console

When using the Multiple Files custom field you can enable the document console. This allows you to easily preview and print the documents.

File Upload with Proxy Server

We have also introduced a new multiple file upload tool that can be enabled if your office connects to the internet via a proxy server.

UTA Enhancements

Level 1 Status Indicator

A graphical indicator can be enabled which will appear at the top of the Level 1 record to show the status pathway and indicate the position of the current record along the path.

Default Contact Role

--Select Role-- can be set as the default role in the Level 1 contacts section to ensure a role is selected and not left at the first role listed.

Level 1 Template Branch Restriction

Level 1 templates can be restricted to any number of internal branches, rather than just one.

Quick Entry

The Quick Entry method of creating multiple Level 2 items has been enhanced. Up to ten records can be created at once with any combination of Level 2 Types, and the custom fields that appear on the quick entry page can be selected. Additionally, an auto-number can be assigned to all records at the time of creation.

List View Heading

The column headings in the list views can be defined on the list view settings page. This applies to Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, Invoices, Contacts and Companies.

"Is Empty" Search

Standard and custom fields and Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 records can be searched to find empty values using the "Is Empty" search option.

Lock on Type

Level 2 and Level 3 records can have their type locked after creation to prevent it from being changed.

Creation Roles

The user roles that are permitted to create each Level 2 and Level 3 record type can be configured separately.

Available Statuses

The statuses that are available to each type of Level 2 or Level 3 record can be defined.
Similarly, you can define which other statuses are available from each status. This is for Level 2 and Level 3.

Recurring Activities

Recurring activities can be scheduled weekly on multiple days of the week.

Level 2 Contact Calendar Status

When displaying Level 2 records on the contact calendar, the records that are shown for each Level 2 type can be controlled by status.

Assign By Role Expansion

Can now be done from Level 2 to Level 3, or Level 1 to Level 3
Controlled by Manager Permission

Invoice Status Batch Update

Invoice status can now be change using batch update.

Void Invoice

A button to automatically void invoices has been introduced. Visibility of the button is controlled by Advanced Logic.

UTA Role Custom Fields

UTA Role Custom Fields at Level 1 and Level 2 as well as Associations can be defined to appear for all user roles.

Group Contact Assignment

When the multiple contact list is enabled, groups of contacts can now be assigned at Level 2 and Level 3 in the same manner as they are at Level 1. Advanced Logic has been introduced to allow this feature to be suppressed at Levels 1, 2 and 3.

Multiple Contact/Company List

When the Level 2 multiple contact or company lists are enabled they can now be re-positioned below the custom fields, in the same relative location as they appear at Level 1.

Aggregation UTA

Creating an aggregation UTA will facilitate creating reports that span multiple related UTAs by defining the association between equivalent fields in each UTA.

Data Exchange

Settings have been added to specify "preserve template", "preserve type", "reject new template" and "reject new type" (Level 2 and Level 3). Additionally there is a new setting to prevent the exchange of new Level 2 records.

UTA Connection List View

The fields to be shown in the UTA connection list view can be selected when the consumer/provider relationship is enabled.

Template Pages

Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 Template pages now go through the variable processor. This means you can include variables directly on the template page.

Contacts and Companies

Contact/Company Ajax Search

The fields that are searched and displayed when using the Ajax Lookup can be defined for Contacts and Companies. The column headings can also be customised.

User can also specify how many matching records are displayed as Ajax results on their system settings page. (10, 15, 20 or 30)

Edit Contact Logic

Global Advanced Logic has been added to allow control of who is permitted to edit contact records.

Contact/Account List View

The column headings in the standard Contact and Company list views can be defined on theList View settings page.

Workflows

Create Activity

The Create Activity workflow task can now be used at Level 2 to create one or more Level 3 activities.

Workflow Requests

Workflow task types Request for Comment and Request for Approval at Level 2 and Level 3 can now be configured to display the record either in view or in edit mode.

Reports

Flash Charts

Graphs such as bar and pie charts created from SmartSimple reports can be displayed using Flash animation.

Dashboard Layout

New dashboard layout configurations of 1x7, 1x8, 1x9 and 1x10.

Variables

Currency Formatting

Values can now be changed to standard currency formats using the following syntax: @format(FIELD NAME,currency,CURRENCYCODE)@

System Library

A global System Library has been added that can be accessed as system variables. The available values and functions can be found under System Variables on the Global Settings page. The syntax is: @system.library.variable name@
When viewing the list of custom fields will identify those that are using System Library variables.

System Variable Pre-processing

Variables within System Variables will be pre-processed to allow dynamic selection of the appropriate variable. The syntax to be used is: @system2.@variable name@@
System variables appearing within other system variables is also now supported.

Global Auto-number

A global auto-number field can be specified as a System Variable. This will allow sequential numbers to be provided across different objects and/or in different UTAs.

Misc

Message Queue

A manager permission has been implemented to provide read-only access to the message queue. Previously only Global Administrators had access.

Multi-File Upload Applet

Use of the multi-file upload tool can be restricted by role using a manager permission.

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.

Previous Upgrade: February 2013

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