Upgrades

General Information

Next Upgrade Date

The next upgrade is scheduled for July 20 2023.

Upgrade Schedule

Upgrade	Key Release Date	Global Release Date
November 2024	Thu, Nov 14 2024	Thu, Nov 28 2024
February 2025	Thu, Feb 13 2025	Thu, Feb 27 2025
June 2025	Thu, Jun 12 2025	Thu, Jun 26 2025
October 2025	Thu, Oct 9 2025	Thu, Oct 23 2025
February 2026	Thu, Feb 12 2026	Thu, Feb 26 2026
June 2026	Thu, Jun 11 2026	Thu, Jun 25 2026
October 2026	Thu, Oct 8 2026	Thu, Oct 22 2026

We regularly update the list of upgrade features and schedule for both the backup and production environments 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.

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.

For clients on a Private Cloud environment, please review the SmartSimple Upgrade Process – Dedicated Server page.

Upgrade Schedule Details

The following tables outline the detailed upgrade release cycle.

If you are part of our Key Release your SmartSimple Cloud system will be automatically upgraded according to the following schedule. Generally North American Clients are on the Key release.

Hosting	Environment	Date	Maintenance Window	Typical Downtime
Key Release	Production	Second Thursday of an upgrade month	22:00 - 23:59 EST	5 minutes
Key Release	Backup	Two weeks prior to the production upgrade	22:00 - 23:59 EST	5 minutes

If you are part of our Global Release your SmartSimple Cloud system will be automatically upgraded according to the following schedule. Generally clients in Europe, Middle East and Asia as well as Managed Dedicated clients are on the Global release.

Hosting	Environment	Date	Maintenance Window	Typical Downtime
Global Release	Production	Fourth Thursday of an upgrade month	22:00 - 23:59 local time	5 minutes
Global Release	Development/Test	Fourth Thursday of an upgrade month	22:00 - 23:59 local time	5 minutes
Global Release	Backup	Second Thursday of an upgrade month	22:00 - 23:59 local time	5 minutes

If you are on dedicated environment that is client-managed your SmartSimple Cloud system is only upgraded manually by your system administrator or by submitting a request to SmartSimple. The upgrade package is made available for you according to the following schedule.

Hosting	Environment	Date	Maintenance Window	Typical Downtime
Global Release	All	Fourth Thursday of an upgrade month	client-managed	5 minutes

Backup Environment Update

• Each backup environment 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 environment and test the changes against your most current data and configuration.
• Internal staff will also be using these environments to perform instance specific testing.

Update Go/No-Go

• Subject to satisfactory testing on both the pre-production environments and the backup environments, the Go/No-Go decision will be made on the Wednesday prior to an upgrade release.

Upgrade Feedback and Questions

If you have questions or need assistance or want to share your thoughts on the upgrade contact our support team toll-free at 866.239.0991 or email support@smartsimple.com

Previous Upgrades

See the Previous Upgrades page for a list of previously-implemented upgrade features.

Current Upgrade Package

General Details

Upgrade Dates

Public Cloud Production release date: November 12th 2020
Public Cloud Backup release date: October 27th 2020

Private Cloud Production (Managed Upgrades) release date: November 26th 2020
Private Cloud Backup (Managed Upgrades) release date: November 12th 2020

Overview

Watch this video to get a general overview of the new features in this release.

To watch this video in full screen, please click on the full screen button on the bottom right.

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 their server:

Major Updates

Deprecation of Google Drive Integration

Deprecated the option to enable Google Drive lookups when uploading to a file upload area. The Global Settings option Enable Google Drive Lookup for File Fields will be automatically disabled and then deprecated with this upgrade.

Updated Retention Period for Log Data

Updated the retention period for log and history data to a 2 year length. Previously, different logs were retained for varying time frames, but we've standardized these all to a time frame of two years now. This relates to log data such logs as user sessions, message queue, workflow history, record of field value changes, system configuration changes, API calls.

Enhanced Geomapping Functions for List Views

Enhanced geomapping functionality for list views. Please note that these changes will be reflected in currently existing list views that have the map panel option enabled. The default size of the map has been slightly reduced, but can be enlarged to fit the screen. The search functions that were previously embedded within the map have been moved out next to the regular list view search panel for the added convenience of being able to combine both search functions now. Proximity searching is now enabled by default for any list view that has enabled the map panel functionality. This allows users to filter records based on both custom search criteria, as well as proximity-based searching. The geographical locations to be used for the distance calculations are variable and can be specified to be the owner of a UTA Level 1 record, or the associated organization, or even a UTA Level 2 address record of the Level 1. The look and feel, and interactions between the list view records and the map panel have also been improved for a more intuitive interaction.

The new look of the enhanced map with proximity search.

Extended Inline Media Playback Functionality for User Portal

Enhanced media playback support to allow for playback of media inline within a user portal. Previously, inline media playback was only available while viewing a record, otherwise the media player would open up in a modal window. This change allows users to more easily navigate a portal while playing some media content.

Portal videos can be played inline and optionally opened in fullscreen without opening a modal window.

Minor Updates

Minor Update to Visual Style of Instruction Text

Minor update to the visual styling of instruction text throughout the system to make these areas a bit more prominent and consistent throughout.

Pre-upgrade look of custom and standard field instructions set to caption above.

Post-upgrade look of custom and standard field instructions set to caption above.

Minor Update to Button Style

Minor visual changes were made to the Back button, which will now appear with less opacity when you first log in with no session history. In addition, the Previous and Next buttons found on list views will also have less opacity when you are on the first or last page on the list.

Buttons will display with less opacity when you cannot interact with them.

New Global Session Timeout Enforced

New absolute session limit introduced to enforce termination of a login session after 24 hours. There is now a maximum limit of 24 hours for any single login session, whereby any session longer than 24 hours will be automatically terminated no matter your individual instance setting for Session Timeout, which we recommend much shorter than 24 hours!

Added Options for Notification Broadcasts

Enhanced the Notification Broadcast feature with more granular features for targeting users and customization of message icon. A new option has been added for restricting messages from being sent to users in specified user roles. Also, notification messages were previously all displayed with a wrench icon indicating a system or maintenance message. As we've seen more expanded and creative use of these notification messages, you can now choose different icons for them to better indicate the type of message that is being delivered.

Choose icons for your notification broadcasts to better indicate the type of message being delivered (Notification icon view).

Choose icons for your notification broadcasts to better indicate the type of message being delivered (Notification modal view).

On-Demand System Upgrades

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

Major Updates

New Banner Section Type Available for Portal Configuration

New Banner section type available for portal configuration to easily configure banner areas in your portal. This allows you to very quickly and easily create great looking banner sections within your user portals. There are 4 layouts to choose from that will affect the alignment of text and link buttons. These banner sections can display a background image, some informational text, and configurable buttons or links to other areas of the system.

New section type called "Banner" available in portals.

New IRS Verification Integration with Charity Navigator Available

New integration with Charity Navigator available for IRS status verification of organizations. This is a new vendor integration that applies to the same areas as the existing IRS status verification service. Specifically this integration can be configured within organization sign up pages for verification at registration, or within transaction types for on-going verification of organizations. The benefit of this latest integration is that it will verify the IRS status of an organization real-time, as opposed to the previous integration service that would refresh its data source only once per month. Also, this new Charity Navigator source will contain additional organizations that were not present in the previous data source, such as organizations with 501(c)(3) status but who don't have an EIN number.

Added Permission Setting for Manual Password Updates

Added setting to allow specified user roles the ability to manually set a password for other users. Previously, this ability was limited to Global Administrator users but you can now set which users can do this similar to the send password functionality. You can find this setting within the Permissions tab of the user roles configuration screen.

Enhanced Duplicate Check Configuration on Sign Up Pages to Allow Multiple Criteria

Enhanced the duplicate check functionality for sign up pages. You can now specify multiple sets of criteria to validate a new sign up record against existing records to block duplicate entry. Previously, the duplicate check function was limited to the definition of only a single set of criteria where every field needed to match an existing record in order to constitute a duplicate match. You may now configure multiple definitions for the detection of a duplicate record.

New Custom Field Type Display - Countdown Timer

New custom field type Display - Countdown Timer available. This field will display a visual countdown on the user's screen as the time nears the date/time in a defined date/time field. This field can be configured to display a custom message during this countdown, as well as after the countdown has been completed. This field can be used to warn users of immediate deadlines approaching, and improve submission rates at time of deadline.

New custom field type called "Display - Countdown Timer" with some added custom styling.

Added Option to Limit Availability of Provider/Consumer Lists

Enhanced Provider/Consumer list views with additional configuration options to limit the availability of consumer list views to specific provider types. You can now restrict the availability and thus visibility of a consumer list view to a set of provider type records. This allows you more granular control and improved user experience in working with associations of records between different UTAs.

Extended Special - Linked Record List Custom Field Type to Organizations and Users

Extended the Special - Linked Record List custom field type to be available for Organization and User records now. You can now create this field type for Organizations and Users, in order to display associated UTA records for an Organization or User.

Minor Updates

Hashtags for Easier Searching and Classification

Users can now easily find organizations, people, grants, and other records using hashtags. Simply enter the desired hashtag (e.g. #SummerEvents) into the custom field to tag it for later or to easily connect records from other applications. To enable hashtags on any Text Box - Multiple Lines or Text Box - Single Line, go to the custom field settings and toggle on Enable Hashtag under Feature Options.

Easily search and classify records using hashtags.

Enhanced ORCID Integration Experience

Researchers, scientists, and academic professionals with ORCID accounts can more easily import their ORCID data. Information from your ORCID account such as grants, awards, and annual funding can be seen in an improved overview on your profile. The improved ORCID process can be enabled by using the new ORCID User Standard Field found under Global Settings > Users tab > Standard Fields. To import data, users can simply navigate to the ORCID tab on their profile’s left navigation and follow the onscreen directions to start the import process.

The new ORCID tab and message seen on your profile before you import your data.

The enhanced ORCID summary seen on your profile after you import your data.

New Option for Limited Custom Fields to Enforce Unique Values

New option for Text Box - Single Line and Number custom field types to enforce unique values across records. Within the configuration of these custom field types, there is a new option within the validation section that will enforce unique values for this custom field upon saving of a record.

New Display Options for Portal Shortcuts

New display options available for portal shortcuts linked to list views. When configuring a portal shortcut of list view type with an icon or image, there's a new option to show the count of the records returned by the list view. In addition, there is now a new setting that allows you to enter instructions or display text on the list view once the shortcut is clicked.

Icon portal shortcuts with the new option to show counts enabled.

Image portal shortcuts with the new option to show counts enabled.

New Option for Autoloader Import to Skip Update of Matched Records

Updated the Autoloader import feature with ability to skip update of matched records. Previously, the only options for Autoloader behaviour were to either update matched records and create new, or to only update matched records and not create new. You may now configure an Autoloader to only import new records and skip update of existing matched records.

New List View Option for Images using Card Style

We've added a new option for lists views that lets you determine how images render in the card view. By default, images in card view styles fill the entire frame and will be cropped. This default setting is recommended for photographs of people and landscapes. If you are uploading graphics, logos, or images where you would not want these items to be cropped, then toggle on Fit Image to Frame, which is found on the list view configuration screen under the Display heading.

Images using card style are cropped by default so the image fills the available space. This is best for photographs of people and landscapes.

Images using card style with the new Fit Image to Frame setting toggled on will not be cropped. This is best for graphics and logos.

Beta Previews

No features are available for beta preview this upgrade.

Notes for Admins

Added Change Log History for Workflow Configuration

Added change history logs for Worfklow configuration. Changes to Workflows, Tasks, and Connectors will now be logged, and visible via a change history icon when configuring each of these areas. Please note that workflow history records older than 2 years will now be deleted to improve system performance.

Added Support for use of Dynamic Criteria with Report Caching

Added support for inclusion of dynamic criteria supplied to reports at run-time for report caching. Previously, the caching feature for reports did not support the use of run-time criteria, but has now been enhanced. This means that you can enable the result caching feature for reports that take input criteria at run-time to speed up the delivery of repeat report results and improve your system performance.

Updated System Design Summary Document to Include IDs of Configuration Settings

Updated the System Design Summary document to also list the unique identifier for each of the configurations. Previously, this document output only included the names of each of the settings configured, but will now also include the IDs of each of these settings.

Added Language Translation Configurations for Custom Batch Update Buttons

Extended language translation availability to custom batch update buttons. You can now configure language translations for the labels of custom batch update buttons.

New Translations Available

New translations are available for Global Administrators in Japanese (日本語), Catalan (Català), and Irish (Gaeilge).

Accessibility Improvements

Accessibility Mode has been enhanced for greater keyboard accessibility. New warnings have been added to the custom field configuration screen that will alert admins when a custom field has been configured with HTML markup that is not recommended. We encourage the use of semantic tags (strong and em) rather than b and i tags to ensure a more accessible experience.

Updated Archive Schedule with Ability to Upload to SFTP Site

Updated the Archive Schedule data backup feature with ability to upload data to an external SFTP site.

Enhanced Primary Authentication Controller with Ability to Restrict by Role

Enhanced the Primary Authentication Controller feature with the ability to limit the access to individual authentication links to other instances based upon user role. This will allow you to more granularly control the access to specific authentication links, and thus other instances.

End of Support for Internet Explorer 11

Microsoft's support for Internet Explorer will end November 2020. We recommend using the latest browser versions of Chrome, Firefox or Safari for the best platform experience.