Upgrades

General Information

Next Upgrade Date

The next upgrade is scheduled for March 12th 2020.

Upgrade Schedule

Upgrade	Planned Production Date
November 2019	Thu, November 14 2019
March 2020	Thu, March 12 2020
July 2020	Thu, July 9 2020
November 2020	Thu, November 12 2020
March 2021	Thu, March 11 2021
July 2021	Thu, July 8 2021
November 2021	Thu, November 11 2021
March 2022	Thu, March 10 2022
July 2022	Thu, July 14 2022
November 2022	Thu, November 10 2022

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 subscribed to our Public Cloud offering your SmartSimple system will be automatically upgraded according to the following schedule

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

If you are subscribed to our Private Cloud offering with managed upgrades your SmartSimple system will be automatically upgraded according to the following schedule

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

If you are subscribed to our Private Cloud offering with client-managed upgrades your SmartSimple 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
Private Cloud - Client-Managed Upgrades	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 14th 2019
Public Cloud Backup release date: October 29th 2019

Private Cloud Production (Managed Upgrades) release date: November 28th 2019
Private Cloud Backup (Managed Upgrades) release date: November 14th 2019

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

Change to Upgrade Schedule

Starting in 2020, we'll be changing our upgrade cycle to a 4-month release cycle. Instead of 4 upgrades a year, we'll be producing 3 upgrades a year. The reason for this is to be able to produce more polished, as well as larger functional enhancements. The 3-month cycle was limiting our ability to develop some of our larger features in a more comprehensive manner. Lengthening the release cycle will allow us to produce some bigger, meaner features, so stay tuned for these starting in 2020!

Deprecation of Classic Interface

It's time to step boldly into the future. With this upgrade we've deprecated our Classic interface. If you haven't yet made the switch to Arcadia interface, your system will automatically be converted to using the Arcadia interface after this. This is to ensure the best user experience for all of our clients, and their communities, not only with a modern interface but also with the rich set of features that we're able to offer through the Arcadia interface that wasn't possible in Classic. Note, your system interface will change if it currently looks similar to the Classic Interface example below, and after this upgrade it will be updated to look like the Arcadia example instead.

Displayed is a Classic Interface that will be automatically converted into the Arcadia Interface.

Displayed is the same Classic Interface converted into the Arcadia Interface.

Deprecate Decimal and Integer Number Formats from Question Set Builder Field

Deprecated the number Format options of Decimal, and Integer from fields used in the Question Set Builder custom field. Note that this only applies to the Question Set Builder custom field, and only in the case where you have created questions that use these format options. This change was made to align the configuration of these fields more consistently with our other custom field settings for Number Precision. Note that if you have any questions current configured in a Question Set Builder configured for the deprecated format options above, they will just be converted to the value of None after this upgrade. You will have to update the fields manually and set the Number Precision if needed.

Change to CAPTCHA Bypass Setting

Change to the CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) bypass function previously used to disable CAPTCHA functionality for users by country. Instead we've re-introduced an older CAPTCHA feature of ours that will apply a simple CATPCHA test that is verified locally on the server instead of reaching out to our Google reCAPTCHA integration that was being blocked by some countries. Instead of outright disabling CAPTCHA functionality for a country, this setting will now instead supply users in selected countries with a SmartSimple CAPTCHA in order to always present some challenge to malicious automation out there.

New Ability to Attach Multiple Filters to a List View

New ability to attach multiple filters to a single list view. You may now build complex list filters by combining multiple simple list filters. For example to list all grant applications that you created or that your organization created or that your co-applicant created all in one list. When assigning multiple filters to a list view, the results of each individual filter are returned and then combined together to render the list. In other words, the resulting list will contain records that satisfy any single one of the attached filters.

Expanded Field Search to List View Configuration

Expanded the ability to search for fields to the list view configuration screen. Now when editing a list view, you can easily search for specific fields that you're looking for, similar to the functionality in the report builder.

Displayed is the List View Builder with the new field search.

Expanded Edit List View Icon to More Areas

Expanded the availability of the edit list view icon to more areas. We've now extended the ability to easily configure the list view that you currently have open to most of the list view areas in the system including lists on contact records, organization records, and UTA consumer/provider lists.

Enhanced Search Panel Function

Enhanced the search panel area for list view sections in portals. This search panel is an easy way for you to provide a simple search filter for your end users to use, by predefining a set of criteria that they're able to filter on. Within the configuration of a portal section of type list view, simply enable the Search Panel option, and then select which columns of the list view you want to allow end users to filter on.

Displayed is the enhanced portal search which can be added to sections with list views. You define what columns your portal users can filter on.

New View of Workflow Connectivity Configurations

New settings screen that lists workflow connectivity to help you to trace through complex workflow processes. In the configuration screen of a workflow, we've introduced a new menu tab called Workflow Connections that will allow you to see other workflows that trigger, or are triggered by the workflow you're viewing. Also, when you are editing a workflow task that triggers another workflow, we've introduced a link for you to review the workflow that you're linking to.

Displayed is the new Workflow Connections tab in the left navigation which shows connectors and tasks.

New Ability to Test Report Exports and Autoloader Imports

New ability to test report exports and autoloader imports on the fly now. We've introduced a Test Now button on the scheduling screen for report exports and autoloader imports for you to manually kick off a test.

Enabled Change History for Reports

Enabled change history functionality for reports. You can now see detailed change history for your reports and also even revert changes to a previous version! Note that changes to reports will only begin to be logged after the upgrade and you will not see previous changes made before.

Enabled Audit History for UTA Security Matrix

Enabled audit history for UTA security matrix. The system will now log changes made to the UTA security matrix.

Minor Updates

Update to SmartCheck Error Message

Updated the standard message for a failed SmartCheck validation from "please correct the following errors" instead to "submission failed due to the following". This was done to avoid confusion in situations where the failed submission logic should not actually be corrected, such as an eligibility form, where suggesting to correct the failed criteria would invite perjury.

Enhanced Tab Bar Mode Feature

Enhanced the Tab Bar feature and extended it to more areas. You can now enable Tab Bar mode from the portal, where previously it was restricted to admin user views only. Also added the ability to re-order your tabs, as well as to use the various split-screen features such as list view split-screens, and map panels. We've also updated the modal window functionality from covering the entire screen instead to just covering the main application window when using the Tab Bar feature. This will allow you to more easily work with multiple tabs and switch between them.

Displayed is the improved Tab Bar mode with the ability to re-order tabs.

Updated Icon Library

Updated the library of available icons, for use in places like portal shortcuts. This will grant you more variety in the available icons you can choose from, as well as different styles of icons. Please note some system icons are a little larger for improved accessibility.

Displayed is the new icon selector as seen when configuring shortcuts. There are now more icons and four icon styles to choose from.

Added Ability to Show All Records in Portal List View

Added the ability to show all records in a portal list view now. Previously in the portal view, list views were limited in the number of records they could display at a time.

Updated Settings Terminology of Data Categorization Feature

Updated some of the terminology and field labels for the settings of the Data Categorization functionality to improve clarity around the feature. In the Global Settings, Security menu, the previous Data Categorizations and Policies link has been moved down to a new section labelled Data Management Policies, and Data Categories has been re-labelled to Field Sets. These changes were made to have access to this feature more apparent and intuitive.

Updated Icon for Configuration of Translation Text

Updated the icon for the configuration of custom translation text within settings pages. Previously this was an icon beside the text boxes that could be translated, such as caption label, however, this functionality has now been moved up to the top of configurations screen with a new icon. This change was made to have access to text translations more consistent and easily available to administrators.

Displayed is the button used for entering translations. Prior to this upgrade the button was usually located beside the caption.

Displayed is the button used for entering translations. After this upgrade the button will be located in the action bar near the top of the screen.

Added Baseline Language Translations for Japanese

New language supported by default. We have introduced default baseline system translations now in Japanese.

Simplified Report Builder joins for Audit Logs

Updated the report builder to simplify the inclusion of Standard and Custom Field Audit Log record sets. Now when you add one of these record sets, the link field option will also show specific fields that you can link on in order to limit your report of field history to specific fields.

Enhanced Reporting of Privacy and Security Policy Agreements

Enhanced the Privacy and Security Policy agreements to now capture the policy version, as well as expose the information to be exportable via Reports. You can now build a report to export the information of user acceptance of your policy agreements.

Enabled Additional Logging of Emulation Users in Field Change History

Enabled logging of emulation users for field change history. If a user is emulating another user, the original user will also be logged in the field change history to indicate that the target user was being emulated by another at the time. When viewing field changes, a new Emulated By column has been added to indicate this.

Enhanced Association Entry Interface

Enhanced the new association entry view for ease of use. Added the ability to select and drag multiple rows. Also, extended the new association entry interface to custom fields of type Linked Record List. If you're using the new association entry interface, this will also now be applied to custom fields that display association lists as well. This will be applied to your system if in Global Settings -> Classic Options -> you must toggle off Use Classic Association Entry View in order to try out the new interface.

Displayed is the new Association Entry view where you can choose the role to assign, search/filter for specific users and then add those users in that role.

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 System Administrator:

Major Updates

Added Options for Configuring Minimum and Maximum Selection Requirement for Lookup - Autocomplete Custom Fields

Added options for the configuration of Lookup - Autocomplete custom field types to allow you to easily configure a minimum requirement, as well as maximum limit on options for users to select.

New Option for Update Behavior with Organization Signups for Matching Organizations

New update behavior option for organization sign up pages introduced that when used will allow new registrants the ability to select existing organizations to sign up under. This new option will automatically create a new organization when no matches are found, but will alternatively display matching organizations that match a category you specify when found and allow users the ability to select which organization to create their user account underneath.

Displayed is the new duplicate match found screen on an Organization signup page. If this option is chosen the user can select an organization within your system and create themselves under that organization or the user can choose to create a new organization.

New Option for Organization and User Signups to Apply SmartCheck Validation

New ability to assign a SmartCheck validation to a signup page. While the signup page would apply field level validations, you may now also apply SmartCheck Validations to configure more complex validation requirements.

New Location Proximity Searching

New ability for list views with the map panel enabled to filter and sort records based on location proximity. Now available for UTA Level 1, users, and companies list views. This will allow users to list records in order of proximity to the user's choice of their current location, an address search, or simply pointing on the map. Records can be mapped based on the address of the person, contact, customer or organization.

Displayed is a level 1 list view (example grants) with the map option enabled. You can modify the proximity and adjust the filters at the top right.

Minor Updates

Expanded Quick Assign for use in Portal Sections

Expanded the Quick Assign feature to be available inside portals. Previously, this was limited to just the full UTA view, but we've now made it available to your end users inside their portal. Just create a shortcut and use the URL lookup to select this option.

Added Option for Workflow Connector to Exclude by Record Status and Type

Added an option to add a status and type exclusion list for workflow connectors. Previously, there was only an inclusion option for status and types, but now you can choose either or to simplify your configuration.

Added Option to Show Record Count for Mixed Record Type List Views in Portal

Added the Show Record Count option for portal sections of type List View - Mixed Record Type.

Added Ability to Restrict Availability of Invitation Templates

Added ability to restrict the availability of Invitation templates of the Invitations feature to certain user roles. Visibility Condition settings have been added for Invitation templates to allow you to limit their use.

Added Additional Expiry Options for Privacy and Security Policy Agreements

Added an option to enforce that your end users accept your Privacy and Security policies on a daily or weekly basis. Previously, the shortest available option to you was monthly.

New Ability to Manifest UTA Level 3 Tabs

New ability to manifest UTA Level 3 list views as tabs now.

Beta Previews

No features are available for beta preview this upgrade.

Notes for Admins

New Ability to Search within History and Pending Workflow Tasks

New ability to perform searches within the workflow task history/pending queue lists. You can now search, filter, and sort on the workflow task queue to better trace the automated workflow processes being triggered in your system.

Added Option for use of Private Key File for Authentication of Report Exports

Added option to use private key file for use in authentication of report exports. You may now upload a private key file for use in report exports to external sites such as SFTP sites.

Expanded Variable Processor to Maximum Word/Character Setting of Custom Field

Enhanced the maximum word/character setting of a custom field to run through the variable processor. You can now make the maximum word/character limits of your custom fields dynamic and dependent upon the value of another field.

Added Option to Restrict Dynamic Content Enabled Custom Field to List Only Parent Associated Objects

Added an option for selection-type custom fields with dynamic content enabled to restrict the list of dynamic content to related child records. For example, a multi-select custom field on a UTA Level 1, with the dynamic content option enabled will have an additional setting Enforce Parent Restriction available to you now. Enabling this setting will restrict the list of Level 2 records to only the child Level 2s under the Level 1 record the user is on.

Expanded Variable Processor to Records Linked via Linked Record Custom Field

Added the ability to reference field values from another record linked through a selection-type custom fields with dynamic content. You'll be able to use the following variable syntax to reference an object linked to one of these fields:

@linked.linkfield.recordfield@
@linked.linkfield[#~recordstandardfield~ $recordcustomfield$#]@

e.g. @linked.EmergencyContact.cellphone@ given that EmergencyContact is a Linked Record custom field of type contact, and cellphone is a cellphone custom field belonging to the contact.

Future Upgrades

View future upgrade dates.