Last updated: 2025-12-03
Release Notes - SmartOffice 2025 Release 1
About This Document
For general information about SmartOffice release notes, visit the Release Notes home page.
Revision History
These release notes may be revised after their initial publication. This section lists the dates of any revisions as well as a list of changes.
April 11, 2025
- Initial publication
April 17, 2025
- SmartOpportunities: Added a beta feedback e-mail address to the description of the opportunity workflows enhancement (SRRCP-40).
April 23, 2025
- Core System: Added a link to Quick Note help topic (SRRCP-62).
- SmartBenefits: Added a link to the Group Policy Import help topic (SRRCP-46).
April 25, 2025
- Release Overview: Added a link to the release highlights video.
April 29, 2025
- SmartOpportunities: Added a link to the Workflows help topic (SRRCP-40).
May 12, 2025
- SmartOpportunities: Updated the instructions for accessing the workflow template list (SRRCP-40).
- Advisors/Agencies: Clarified the purpose of the Goal Met column for tracking advisor goals (SRRCP-9).
Release Overview
SmartOffice 2025 Release 1 continues to improve the SmartOffice user experience with enhancements that simplify side menu navigation, refine SmartOffice's new visual theme, and allow users to quickly enter notes from any screen. This release also features the beta version of a new opportunity workflow experience designed to make creating opportunity processes more intuitive.
For agencies, Release 1 introduces a better experience for tracking yearly premium goals for advisors, as well as the ability to import multiple group policies from a .csv file.
This release also resolves a number of issues identified in SmartOffice 2024 Release 3 and earlier releases, including several issues with the recently redesigned SmartOffice Anywhere contact screens.
For a quick overview of this release, see the release highlights video.
Enhancement Highlights
This section provides quick links to the featured enhancements in this release.
Core System
Agency Management
System Requirements
There are no changes to system requirements for this release. For current system requirements, see System Requirements.
Important Changes to Default Settings
- New user accounts now have the new SmartOffice Pro visual theme and the compact Menu turned on by default in SmartOffice Pro.
- The recently redesigned contact view in SmartOffice Anywhere is now the default view when users sign in.
Note Regarding Text Changes in SmartOffice
This release may contain minor changes to text in dialog boxes and other areas of the SmartOffice user interface. Changes of this type are typically made to correct spelling, grammar, punctuation and other language-related issues. Such changes normally are not listed in this document unless they affect the way the application works.
SmartOffice Pro Changes
Core System
Featured Enhancements
Simplified Side Menu
The side menu has been enhanced to help users find key submenu items more quickly. Now, selecting a menu item initially displays only the most commonly selected submenu items, along with a Show More link that users can select to reveal the full list. In addition, the submenu items are arranged alphabetically.
Users who prefer to access the full menu at all times can turn this feature off by going to User Preferences > Basic Info and clearing the new Enable simplified Side Menu option. (SRRCP-101)
Quick Notes
The Quick Note feature allows a user to enter a SmartPad note from any location in SmartOffice Pro without having to open a contact or other record first.
Users can create a quick note by choosing the new Quick Note option from the Add New menu. For single-click access, users can replace one of their Quick Action Corner buttons with the new Quick Note button (right-click any Quick Action Corner button and select Customize to configure these buttons).
While entering the text of a quick note, a user can link the note to one or more contacts by typing @ followed by the contacts' name (last name, first name). As the user types a name, a list of matching contacts from the database appears for the user to choose from. A quick note must be linked to at least one contact.
The "Draft Saved" message indicates that the user can select Cancel or close the window if necessary without losing any text entered; the text is restored the next time the user opens the window.
For more information, see the help topic. A Quick Note portlet is also available to add to custom page layouts for contact, businesses, advisors and agencies. (SRRCP-62)
Theme Improvements
Several improvements have been made to the new visual theme (now called Modern Light) and theme-switching support introduced in the previous release:
- Modern Light updates: Based on user feedback during the beta testing period, Modern Light has been polished. Changes include fixes for a variety of layout glitches, a new font, adjustments to text size and colors, tweaks to button colors and performance optimizations.
- Themes button menu: Selecting the Themes button in SmartOffice's top bar now displays a menu showing all available themes. including a new, more compact version of Modern Light (learn more).
- Default theme for new users: Modern Light is now the default theme applied to new SmartOffice user accounts.
(SRRCP-129)
Compact Theme
A new version of the Modern Light theme named Modern Light (Compact) is now available. This theme features the updated colors and fonts of Modern Light while retaining the Classic theme's tighter sizing and spacing of fields, list items, and other page elements. This theme is intended for users who prefer to see more data on the screen at one time.
To enable the Modern Light (Compact) theme, select it from the new Theme button menu (learn more). (SRRCP-456)
Other Enhancements
Contact Management
- Option to hide user group prompt when creating contacts: This enhancement applies to users who belong to one or more user groups in offices with office security enabled. When creating contacts and certain other records, these users see a prompt to select a user group to assign to the record. Now, these users can disable this prompt by selecting the new Do not show user group list while creating a record check box in the user list.
To re-enable the prompt, the user can go to in User Preferences > Basic Info and select the new Show user group list while creating a record option. (SRRCP-161)
- Ability to mark phone numbers as bad: User can now indicate that a phone number is no longer valid by selecting the new Mark as Bad Phone option in the phone number record.
Bad phone numbers appear in red in the Phone Numbers lists of contacts and other records. (SRRCP-228)
Correspondence
- Improved handling of attachments: In the Correspondence Wizard, the Add/Remove E-mail Attachments link was replaced by a new E-mail Attachments section designed to make managing attachments easier.
The new section provides these features:
- Drag-and-drop as well as standard file browsing/selection
- The ability to add/select multiple attachments at once
- One-click deletion of attachments
- Support for up to eight attachments (double the previous limit)
(SRRCP-60)
- Background processing of e-mail correspondence: Users no longer have to wait for the system to finish sending e-mail correspondence before they can perform other actions in SmartOffice Pro. In the Correspondence Wizard, when users select Send, SmartOffice now processes the correspondence in the background and informs to check the E-mail Queue for status.
(SRRCP-61)
Filters
- Ability to restrict filter modification: Filters now have an Only Modifiable by Me option. The filter's creator can select this option to prevent other users from changing the filter and potentially creating issues with any reports and sets linked to the filter.
(SRRCP-229)
Resolved Issues
General
- The Outlook new message window was not opening properly when users tried to send feedback about the new SmartOffice Pro theme. This issue was resolved. (PMG-945111)
- The recently introduced compact view for the Menu was not enabled by default for new user accounts. This issue was resolved. (SRRCP-78)
- When an administrator disabled a user account, the message about contacting the SmartOffice billing department was displaying an outdated e-mail address. This issue was resolved. (SRRCP-94)
- The copyright date on some SmartOffice pages was not accurate. This issue was resolved. (SRRCP-97)
- A misalignment of the SmartOffice logo with the top navigation bar in the Classic theme was resolved. (SRRCP-98)
- While customizing a page layout, users who tried to drag a field into the layout were not always seeing an indicator line showing where the field will appear once dropped. This issue was resolved. (SRRCP-109)
- On the final step of the Audit Report Wizard, the buttons for previewing, e-mailing, saving or sending the generated PDF to Docupace were not working. This issue was resolved. In addition, a "connection timed out" error that users were encountering when they tried generate at Audit Report was resolved. (SRRCP-117)
- An issue that was occurring during security question/answer and password setup on SmartOffice user accounts was resolved. After entering a password, users with e-mail addresses from uncommon top-level domains (such as .team) were encountering an “invalid e-mail address” error. (SRRCP-162)
- An issue that was causing misalignment of headings in dialog boxes was resolved. (SRRCP-199)
- Some users who access SmartOffice via single sign-on (SSO) were being redirected to a page with an improper layout when they signed out. This issue was resolved. (SRRCP-486)
- The Resource Carrier Subscription content link was not visible to some users in Office Settings. This issue was resolved. (SRRCP-728)
Contact Management
- Contact merge was displaying an error when the source contact record was linked to electronically downloaded policy records. This issue was resolved. (SRRCP-74)
- The system was presenting some users with a blank window when they tried to open local files or folders linked to a contact from the Letters/Documents content link. This issue was resolved. (SRRCP-75)
- An issue with converting contacts to businesses and vice versa was resolved. If a contact or business was converted without the Convert custom field data option being selected—and if custom data was later added to the converted record—any attempt to convert the record back was producing an error. (SRRCP-82)
- When a user opened a linked call script from a Call-type activity, the window displaying the script was truncated on the right side, preventing the user from reading the text. This issue was resolved. (SRRCP-95)
Correspondence
- The Microsoft Plug-in for SmartOffice was failing to process correspondence initiated by a user whose user name contained an apostrophe. This issue was resolved. (SRRCP-85)
- When users launched the Correspondence Wizard from the contact Letter Log by selecting the New 'Letter Log' Record command, they were unable to choose a sender address because the Sender Address drop-down list was missing from the Options page. This issue was resolved. (SRRCP-91)
Data Import/Export
- An issue with updating existing contacts during a contact import operation was resolved. When the Mark Imported E-mail, Address and Phone numbers as preferred option was cleared in the import wizard, the system was removing the preferred designation from existing e-mail addresses, postal addresses and phone numbers, leaving those contacts with no preferred contact information. (SRRCP-79)
- Contacts were missing in exported .csv files when any contact field contained double quotation marks (e.g., ""Ackerman""). This issue was resolved. (SRRCP-90)
Dynamic Reports
- A data visibility issue affecting record sharing users in office hierarchies was resolved. Reports in custom page layouts were not displaying records shared with the user from other offices. (SRRCP-84)
Filters
- Advanced filters configured to show contacts with no user assignment were showing no results, even when such contacts existed in the system. This issue was resolved. (SRRCP-366)
Home Page
- An issue with home page portlets containing contact Dynamic Reports was resolved. The issue was occurring when a report used the Summary layout and displayed a pie chart. When the report returned a single result, the portlet was displaying the details of that contact instead of a list. (SRRCP-68)
- When a home page dashboard created by one user was added to a tab by another user, portlets were appearing with different sizes and positions than those specified by the dashboard's creator. This issue was resolved. (SRRCP-93)
- Dashboard administrators with Super User rights were unable to permanently delete dashboards created by other users. This issue was resolved. (SRRCP-107)
- Dynamic Report portlets in home page tabs were not displaying a Records Shown count when the report contained less than 50 results. (SRRCP-112)
- An issue that was causing home page tab labels to appear in bold font was resolved. (SRRCP-615)
Households
- Changing the position of the Role drop-down list in a custom household Detail page layout was displaying a Customize Choice button that is not normally available. The same issue was affecting the Plan Type drop-down list in presale activity/proposal records. (SRRCP-77)
SmartPad
- Users who tried to print activity notes from the Activity Detail dialog box were finding that the Print Tagged Rows option was not available when appended notes were selected. This issue was resolved. (SRRCP-73)
- An error that users were encountering in some instances when they tried to print a list of SmartPad notes containing the Notes column was resolved. (SRRCP-453)
SmartCalendar
Resolved Issues
- While trying to print multiple activity notes from a list, users were finding that the Print Tagged Rows option was unavailable in some instances. This issue was resolved. (PMG-945487)
- When users maximized the Tasks list on any calendar view, the list data was not adjusting horizontally to fit the expanded column layout. This issue was resolved. (SRRCP-608)
SmartOpportunities
Featured Enhancements
Opportunity Workflows (Beta)
Opportunity administrators can now try the beta version of a new, more intuitive method of creating and managing opportunity processes. This enhancement introduces the new label "workflow templates" to refer to opportunity processes and offers users step-by-step guidance for creating opportunity stages, adding stage actions and more.
The new design delivers user-friendly features such as:
- Drag-and-drop reordering of stages
- Management of stages and actions on one screen
- The ability to mark certain workflow templates as favorites to make them easier to find
- The ability to automatically advance an opportunity to an entirely different workflow when a stage is completed
Note that this enhancement does not change the way in which users create opportunities in SmartOffice. During opportunity creation, users will select an opportunity process just as they did previously.
To create workflow templates, a user with the Opportunity Setup Administrator license can enable the Use New Workflow Setup option in User Preferences > Basic Info. Then, from the side menu, the user can select Setup > Workflow Template Setup. to view the template list and create and manage workflow templates. For more information, see the Workflows help topic.
If you have any feedback or if you run into any issues with workflow templates during the beta test period, please e-mail us at SmartOfficeBeta@zinnia.com. (SRRCP-40)
Resolved Issues
- The Add New Opportunity command/button was missing from the opportunity Detail content link when the associated contact record was shared from another office. This issue was resolved. (SRRCP-56)
- An issue with Related Contacts-category Dynamic Reports in the Opportunity report family was resolved. The issue occurred when these reports were added to contact custom page layouts. When users viewed the contact record of an opportunity related contact, the reports were not listing the related contact's linked opportunities. (SRRCP-69)
Advisors/Agencies
Featured Enhancements
Improved Advisor Goal Tracking
SmartOffice Pro now offers a more robust way for businesses to set and track annual production goals for their advisors. The advisor Goals content link now supports the tracking of yearly premium goals for multiple lines of business. In addition, a new Goal Met column is available to indicate whether those goals have been met (this column currently works for yearly premium goals only) .
To create a premium goal for a particular line of business, the user chooses from a new Insurance Type drop-down list that appears when the Premium Goal option is selected from the Goal Definition drop-down list. Note that the Yearly frequency must be selected for Goal Met calculation results to appear.
Updates to the Goal Met column are recorded in the advisor's SmartPad under the Changes tab as part of the Audit Trail feature.
As part of this enhancement, a new Advisor Production Goal table is also available for advisor Dynamic Reports and lists. The new table contains the following columns for tracking year-to-date production totals for various lines of business. The system uses the totals from these columns to calculate whether tracked premium goals have been met:
- YTD Production-Annuity
- YTD Production-Critical Illness
- YTD Production-DI
- YTD Production-Dental
- YTD Production-LTC
- YTD Production-Life
- YTD Production-Medical
- YTD Production-Other
- YTD Production-Property Casualty
- YTD Production-Vision
(SRRCP-9)
Other Enhancements
General
- Ability to link presale activities directly from pending cases: To quickly link an accepted illustration or quote to the appropriate pending case, users can now go to the pending case Detail content link and select Menu > Link to Existing Presale Activity/Proposal. Once the user searches for and selects the appropriate presale activity, SmartOffice displays the Presale Activity/Proposals content link on the pending case record. On that content link, users can view the presale details, unlink the presale, and perform other actions. (SRRCP-43)
- FINRA Central Registration Depository number autofill: When a broker-dealer is added to an advisor record using the Menu > Broker Dealer command, SmartOffice now automatically populates the CRD # field on the advisor record. In addition, the CRD # field is now visible in the default page layouts of the advisor Personal and Add'l Detail content links. (SRRCP-171)
SmartView for Advisors
- Confirmation prompt when modifying multiple user accounts: When a user tries to modify the user rights of multiple SmartView for Advisors user accounts at one time, the system now displays a confirmation message to ensure that the user wants to make those changes. (SRRCP-105)
Resolved Issues
General
- An issue that occurred when a user selected Menu > Link Presale Activity/Proposal to Existing Pending Case for a presale activity record was resolved. When the user performed the case search, the dialog box displaying the list of results contained a number of irrelevant commands. These extraneous commands were removed. (SRRCP-44)
- On the advisor/agency License/Compliance content link, an issue was occurring when a user viewed a continuing education record that applied to multiple states. When the user selected OK to close the record without making changes, the system was changing some of the state selections. (SRRCP-49)
- Selecting the CRD # field hyperlink on an advisor record was displaying a list of all FINRA Central Registration Depository numbers in the office. The hyperlink now displays only those CRD numbers associated with that particular advisor. (SRRCP-87, SRRCP-349)
- When the Production Dashboard was configured in Policy/Case Setup for a specific production period, the Trend column in the Production Dashboard was displaying a value of Flat regardless of the actual trend. To prevent incorrect data from being displayed, the Trend column will now show no value when a production period is selected. (SRRCP-515)
Insurance Products and Carriers
Resolved Issues
- While adding a record to the product Rider Assignment content link, users were seeing an "insert/update failed" error when they entered the name of a non-existent rider product, selected any state, and then selected OK. The system now displays a proper error message stating that no matching record was found. (SRRCP-42)
SmartPolicies
Resolved Issues
- After a URL was added to a policy's Document List using the Link to web address (URL) command, users who opened the record were not seeing the URL field in the File Details dialog box. This issue was resolved. (SRRCP-83)
SmartCaseManager
Enhancements
- Access to notes from requirement detail: Users can now view and create requirement notes directly from the requirement detail dialog box. A new Menu button provides access to the View Requirement Notes and New Requirement Note commands.
(SRRCP-39)
- Status prioritization for case requirement lists: To help case managers process requirements more efficiently, a new Status Priority column is now available on pending case requirement lists (if the column is not visible, learn how to add it). The column displays a priority of High, Medium or Low depending on a requirement's status and whether its Key Requirement option is selected. Key requirements with an Outstanding status are designated as High, while other Outstanding requirements are set to Medium. All non-Outstanding requirements are prioritized as Low. Users can filter on the column to narrow down requirement lists and add the column to requirement Dynamic Reports.
To take full advantage of the new column, apply a custom sort to the requirement list that sorts the Status Priority column in descending order. Requirements will then appear in order of priority, with High-priority items appearing in bold and automatically rising to the top of the list.
Other changes included in this enhancement:
- For pending case correspondence, the PCMStatus merge codes that administrators can define in Policy/Case Setup > PCM Status Merge Code Definition now display requirements in the order in which they are listed in SmartOffice, with bold formatting for key requirements. Note that this enhancement applies only to correspondence sent through the web browser and not through the Microsoft Plug-in for SmartOffice.
- Pending case status reports now display requirements in the order in which they are listed in SmartOffice, with bold formatting for key requirements.
- The system now automatically clears the Key Requirement option when a requirement's status changes to Cancelled, Completed, Declined, Received, Waived or Withdrawn.
(SRRCP-52, SRRCP-63)
Resolved Issues
- Layout and button issues that were affecting users' ability to create policy warnings for pending cases were resolved. (SRRCP-15)
- In pending case lists, the Days in Issued Status column was not accurately calculating the number of days that a case spent in that status. This issue was resolved. (SRRCP-113)
- The system was allowing users to formalize informal child cases without entering a policy number, even when the Check Policy# is not blank when formalizing child case option was selected in Policy/Case Setup > Informal PCM Workflows > Initial Informal Workflow. (SRRCP-368)
- An issue with the Medical Requirement Details section of pending case requirements was resolved. Users who selected the Doctor hyperlink and then selected the New button to add a doctor record were being presented with narrow fields that made it difficult to enter text. (SRRCP-491)
SmartBenefits
Featured Enhancements
Group Policy Import
SmartOffice now allows users with the appropriate rights to import group policies from comma-separated value (.csv) files using the Data Import Wizard. To get started, launch the wizard from the side menu (Utilities > Data Import Wizard) and create a new import setup. When the Add Import Definition dialog box opens, enter a setup name, and then select Group Policy Import from the Select the type of records to be imported drop-down list.
For more information, see SmartBenefits - Group Policy Import. (SRRCP-46)
Resolved Issues
- An "insert/update failed" error that users were encountering in some instances when they tried to create or edit group policy records was resolved. (SRRCP-359)
SmartCommissions
Resolved Issues
General
- A layout issue with the Advisor Payment Detail dialog box was resolved. The separator between the Remarks and Reconciled Information sections was missing. (SRRCP-45)
- A “failed to load object” error that users were seeing when they tried to run commission statement PDF reports was resolved. This issue affected reports that used the Generic Statement #4 layout. (SRRCP-353)
- When a user created a manual renewal commission transaction for a policy, the system was pulling up first-year commission rates for hierarchy levels 1 and 2. This issue was resolved. (SRRCP-421)
Batch Processing
- An issue related to the Advisor Commission Check List of posted batch records was resolved. When a discrepancy existed between a check amount and the total receivable amount, refreshing the check amount was not updating the amount in the PDF statement accessible from the Open Link column. (SRRCP-118)
Carrier Posting
- When a user selected the Menu > Show Linked Batch command for a carrier posting record, the system was displaying the Batch Processing Detail dialog box with a distorted layout. This issue was resolved. (SRRCP-51)
Speed Receipts
- A commission calculation issue affecting group policies containing an advisor commission split was resolved. The issue occurred when a policy commission transaction was added to a speed receipt and validated using the Create Payments by Interest % of Policy command. When a user viewed the policy's Expected Commission List and opened the Advisor Commission List, the payment was listed but the Advisor column was blank. (SRRCP-47)
- An issue with the Commission Data list in speed receipt records was resolved. After a user validated a transaction, SmartOffice was returning the user to the first transaction in the list instead of the one the user was working with. (SRRCP-160)
- A “page unresponsive” error that users were encountering in some instances when they tried to reset validated speed receipt transactions was resolved. (SRRCP-370)
Integrations and Data Services
Resolved Issues
General
- In organizations using SmartOffice Secure, users whose devices passed the security scan at sign-in were being redirected to the SmartOffice sign-in page instead of the SmartOffice home page. This issue was resolved. (PMG-709537)
SmartIntegrator and SmartXchange
- A SmartIntegrator API issue that was preventing paginated search requests from returning complete results was resolved. (PMG-943358)
SmartOffice Anywhere Changes
Enhancements
- Contact screen refinements: In response to feedback from beta testers, several improvements were made to the redesigned SmartOffice Anywhere contact screens introduced in the last release:
- A Send Feedback link was added to the navigation menu so that users can more easily report any issues or offer suggestions regarding the new design. (SRRCP-315)
- Users can now access their calendar and task list from the navigation menu.
In addition, the names of other SmartOffice modules whose design has not been updated yet were removed to reduce clutter. (SRRCP-380)
- For iPhone users, a search button was added next to the search box, and selecting the new button automatically hides the keyboard. (SRRCP-403)
- An Add Activity command was added to the menu to the right of the contact's name.
(SRRCP-407)
- The button to switch between the new (modern) look and the classic look was changed to a toggle switch. (SRRCP-408)
- On the Activity tab, activities and tasks marked Done or Cancelled now have strikethrough formatting applied to them to help users distinguish them more easily from active activities and tasks. (SRRCP-412)
- On the Contact List, the button for adding a note now has an improved. (SRRCP-416)
Resolved Issues
- Access to the redesigned SmartOffice Anywhere contact screens was not available to some users. This issue was resolved. (PMG-937380)
- Users had to manually enable the new contact list and contact screen design introduced for mobile devices in Release 3. This issue was resolved. The updated design is now turned on by default. (SRRCP-104)
- Several issues with the new design of the SmartOffice Anywhere contact screens were resolved:
- Entering text in contact fields on an iPhone was causing the view to zoom in, resulting in fields and buttons moving off the edge of the screen. (SRRCP-267)
- When iPhone users tried to send an e-mail from the Contact List, the app was inserting two slashes before the address in the To: field of the new message. (SRRCP-268)
- When iPhone users entered text in the contact search field and selected the Return key, the app was not performing a search. (SRRCP-269, SRRCP-273)
- On the contact detail screen, the phone number field was labeled Mobile, even when non-mobile numbers were displayed. This field has been relabeled Phone, and when the field displays a mobile number, an SMS text button appears next to the number. (SRRCP-274)
- On Android devices, activities were requiring multiple taps to be marked Done. (SRRCP-307)
- The phone number and e-mail address fields at the top of the contact detail screen were not spaced properly. (SRRCP-384)
- On the Field Customization screen, there were separate check boxes for DOB and Age. These were combined into a single check box labeled DOB (Age). (SRRCP-385)
- A "loading activity" indicator was appearing unnecessarily on the Edit Activity screen. The indicator now appears only if the screen takes longer than three seconds to load. (SRRCP-386)
- Newly entered phone numbers were not being marked as mobile numbers by default. In addition, 7- and 10-digit masked phone numbers were not being formatted properly with hyphens. (SRRCP-388, SRRCP-413)
- When a user selected a postal address on the contact detail screen, the user’s map app was unable to find the address because a
HTML tag was being inserted into the address. (SRRCP-397)
- On the Add Contact screen, the button for showing more data had a double arrow. This was changed to a single arrow to be consistent with the same buttons on the Contact Detail screen. (SRRCP-414)
- On the contact detail screen, actions performed in one field (e.g., entering or deleting text) were being reflected in other fields. In addition, users were having difficulty selecting certain fields. (SRRCP-441)
- Selecting a phone number field on the contact detail screen was bringing up the full keyboard instead of the number keypad. (SRRCP-473)
- Entering a single character in the search box and selecting the search button was not performing a search. (SRRCP-475)