Upgrades

General Information

Bi-Monthly Upgrades

Upgrades are released on a bi-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.

A list of planned upgrade dates is available here: Future Upgrades.

We regularly update the list of upgrade features 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.

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

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: July 2014

The following server will be upgraded on Tuesday, July 15th, 2014 at 10pm EST.

• smartsimple3.biz

The following servers will be upgraded on Thursday, July 17th, 2014 at 10pm EST.

• smartsimple.com
• smartsimple2.biz
• smartsimple4.biz
• smartsimple.ca
• smartsimple.ie
• smartsimple.us
• smartsimple.biz
• 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 May 15th.

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 May 2014 upgrade to your server:

Updated Icon Styles for Mobile Devices

• New sets of icons are available to personalize the user portals.
• Users on mobile devices will be automatically detected and their portal interface optimized for mobile useability.

Recent Searches

• The system will now store a user's last five sets of search criteria, making it easier to switch between lists of records.
• Select the dropdown under the "Apply Filter" heading of the Basic Search panel, or the "Saved Filter" heading of the Advanced Search panel, to see a list of the last five searches performed, under the heading "Last Searches."

Intruder Alert Emails

• We've enhanced the feature that sends emails to alert system administrators of unauthorized login attempts. Now multiple recipients can be specified to receive intruder alert emails.

Update to Advanced Searching on Dates

• When using date fields as search criteria in Advanced Search, users can now easily specify whether they want records from "Last Year" or "This Year."

Addition of NTEE Code to IRS Database Search

• A new column for NTEE code has been added to the IRS database search form. This column can also be mapped back to the organization when it is created.

Update to List View Status Colours

• The status colour for each row within a UTA List View has been moved to an indicator at the start of the row as opposed to highlighting the entire row.

On-Demand System Upgrades

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

Arcadia X Interface

• An easy method of building custom user interfaces is now available.
• Arcadia X allows System Administrators build role-based portals with features such as tab-based navigation, and customized list views with enhanced filtering and searching options.

List View Improvements

• List views can now be built so that the entire row is clickable, allowing an easier user experience for accessing individual records.
• As well, list views can be configured to be pre-filtered, so that switching to a list view applies the filter and initially shows only the relevant records.

Report Builder Enhancements

• The Report Builder has been enhanced to calculate sub-grouping aggregates and totalling.
• System Administrators will find that this allows them to circumvent the need to build subreports and build summary reports on their data more quickly.

XML Field Enhancement

• Upgraded the XML Data custom field type to be able to create, edit or delete Level 2 records on the fly. See Managing Level 2 Activities with an XML Section for more information.

New Functionality for Save / Save Draft buttons

• System administrators can now add custom Save and Save Draft buttons on records. Visibility conditions and button labels of these can now be controlled. See Custom Save and Save Draft Buttons for details.

Enhancements to Copying Records

• The permissions for copying records have been enhanced.
• System administrators can define, by role, the permissions for parts of a record that will be copied. See Setting Copy Restrictions for more information.
• The user interface for the Copy Record page is also simplified.

Enhancement to PDF Writer

• Web Page Views can now be configured to specify the filename for a PDF file generated from that Web Page View. See this page for additional information.

Enhancement to User Lockout Functionality

• System administrators can now define a custom message to display to users when a user is locked out due to too many failed login attempts.
• This message will only display when a user has been locked out, and attempts to log in again with the correct password. Therefore, no information will be divulged to users that fail their login.

Previous Upgrades

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

Future Upgrades

Features in development for future upgrades include:

1. New version of SmartSimple's Report Builder
2. New version of the Date Picker
3. Enhancements to email performance
4. Support for ad hoc field content translations
5. Enhancements to merging to Microsoft Excel, including support for table insert rows
6. U.S. Census Tract Code Lookup
7. Census Profile retrieval

Click here for a listing of future upgrade dates.