Previous Upgrade: February 2013
Contents
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 November 2011 Upgrade
- Date: TBC
- Time: TBC
- Meeting Number: TBC
- Meeting Password: TBC
- 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: TBC
- Webex Link: [1]
Next Upgrade: November 2011
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
The following server will be upgraded on Thursday 10 November, 2011 at 10pm EST:
- smartsimple3.biz
The backup server (*.smartsimple3bk.biz) will be upgraded on Monday November 7th for testing.
The following servers will be upgraded on Thursday 24 November, 2011 at 10pm EST.
- smartsimple.com
- smartsimple.us
- smartsimple2.biz
The associated backup servers will be upgraded on Thursday November 17th for testing.
The following servers will be upgraded on Thursday 01 December, 2011 at 10pm EST.
- smartsimple.ca
- smartsimple.ie
- smartsimple.biz
- smartsimple4.biz
The associated backup servers will be upgraded on Thursday November 24th 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 SmartSimple will be in contact with your system administrator to schedule the upgrade of your server after December 12th.
The following is a list of the features included in the upgrade.
Security
- Roles: a new setting to make a role a "UTA Role only" which will hide it from "Able to Set" and "Roles & Access" page.
Contacts and Accounts
- Ability to initiate a duplicate check while viewing a contact or account record.
Standard and Custom Fields
x When configuring Custom Fields a new setting will allow you to select which Level 1 template(s) the field will appear for. This will apply to fields at Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3. x Custom field setting to update the value to the database as soon as it is changed, rather than when the page is saved.
UTA Enhancements
- Track Changes setting on the Contacts standard field to audit addition and removal of contacts on a Level 1 record.
- Level 1 Statuses can now be limited to show only the Submit button.
x Setting to change the default view of Level 1 records to be Edit mode rather than View Mode. x On each Status there will be an option to define a 2nd submit button. For example: 1 submit button for approve and another for reject. x UTA Level 1 setting Disable Default Date. When enabled the startdate, starttime, enddate and endtime will be blank on new records
Reports
- Ability to create your own HTML template to be used for reports that prompt for criteria using the ??? syntax
- Setting to mark a report as Do Not Rebuild to prevent accidentally overwriting customized report template settings. This setting causes a pop-up confirmation when you open report builder.
- Reports that prompt for criteria the criteria entered can be referenced in customized report templates using this syntax: @args[field id@
x Confirm on delete of a report. x Advanced Export: when you select a field in the drop-down it will append the field to the end of the body, not the start. x Global Advanced Logic to hide the "Print" button on reports
Misc
- The Application Tracking built-in application can now be renamed. This will facilitate its use as a Volunteer tracking system.
x New variable syntax to determine if a contact is in a given role by rolename rather than roleid. @me.inRole("Rolename")@
- Improved interface when entering Advanced Logic
x Global Advanced Logic to hide the Organization Chart
- Global Advanced Logic to remove the hyperlinks on the e-mail field and phone number field on contacts and account
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.