Release Notes - SmartOffice 2016 Release 6

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.

December 1, 2016

• Initial publication.

December 8, 2016

• SmartOffice Anywhere: Added "Calendar usability improvements" enhancement (PMG-670943).

• SmartOffice Anywhere: Added "Faster activity outcome tracking" enhancement (PMG-678876).

• SmartOffice Anywhere: Added solution for review date error in activity outcome workflow (PMG-627405).

• SmartOffice Anywhere: Added solution for advisor/agency Type column sorting issue (PMG-636565).

December 12, 2016

• Removed the following solutions to SmartOffice Pro correspondence and data service issues (these issues will be resolved in upcoming  updates): PMG-649100, PMG-664014, PMG-664350, PMG-675416, PMG-677124.

Release Overview

SmartOffice 2016 Release 6 is primarily intended to resolve performance, user interface and other issues identified in SmartOffice Pro Release 5. However, several enhancements have also been included.

Enhancement Highlights

This section provides quick links to the featured enhancements in this release.

Core System

• Merge codes for all contact custom fields

Agency Management

• Ability to mass assign an additional advisor to multiple policies

• Batch information in carrier posting lists

Wealth Management

• Personal holdings workflow enhancement

SmartOffice Anywhere

• Calendar usability improvements

• Faster activity outcome tracking

System Requirements

The system requirements remained unchanged in this release. For detailed system requirements, see System Requirements.

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

Merge Codes for All Contact Custom Fields

SmartOffice Pro now features merge codes for all fields found on the contact Custom content link. This enhancement makes it possible to include any of those fields in SmartOffice correspondence. Previously, merge codes were available for only a subset of these fields. (PMG-684095)

Other Enhancements

General

• Editable Office Code field: In Office Settings, the Office Code field on the office Detail content link can now be edited. Previously, customers had to submit a request to Ebix to modify this field. This enhancement primarily benefits enterprise customers who need to alter this value for DataXchange Enterprise operations. (PMG-678917)

• Plug-in message for non-Windows users: A message now appears when users of non-Windows devices try to run SmartOffice Pro workflows that require the Microsoft Plug-in for SmartOffice (e.g., correspondence). The message informs the user that these workflows work only in Windows. (PMG-678940)

• Update history on About page: The About page, accessible from the profile menu, now includes a Patch History section. This section lists the ID numbers of updates that have been applied to the SmartOffice server. (PMG-681676)

Correspondence

• New driver license merge codes: Two driver license merge codes were added to the system:

- F\_PE\_SPOUSEDRIVERLICNO: This code displays the driver license number of the selected contact's spouse.

- F\_PE\_SPOUSEDRIVERLICEXP: This code displays the driver license expiration date of the selected contact's spouse.

(PMG-671581)

PDF Reports

• Report sharing improvements: For enterprise customers, two enhancements were made to the PDF report permission options available in a report's setup in the System office:

- In the Permissions section, when the option in the drop-down list is changed from Available in all offices to one of the other options, the user is now prompted immediately to search for and select one or more offices. Office selection is required; if no office is selected, the option remains as Available in all offices.

- Changes to report permissions now generate e-mail notifications.

- Deleting a report from the System office now generates an e-mail notification.

(PMG-632298)

Resolved Issues

General

• The missing Menu button on the Tier Licenses content link in Office Settings was restored. (PMG-648142)

• After applying a custom page layout for contacts, users who later viewed the list of available layouts were seeing a blank space at the bottom of the list. This issue was resolved. (PMG-651738)

• Users who did not have the Global Search user right were still able to access that feature from the SmartOffice search box. This issue was resolved. (PMG-665200)

• A logging issue involving restored records was resolved. The issue occurred when an Enterprise View user signed in to a child office using Impersonate Mode. When the user restored a deleted contact, the database was logging the transaction as having been performed by the child office and the parent-office user account. (PMG-665930)

• Search box issues affecting Chrome users were resolved. Occasionally, the box was not displaying what the user was typing, and the dynamic menu showing matching results was displaying duplicate entries. (PMG-673563)

• Users were encountering issues with dialog box size and the visibility of buttons when merging contact, carrier, rider, product and requirement records. These issues were resolved. (PMG-684706)

• Users were encountering issues printing and exporting Social Security numbers properly, even when the appropriate office settings and user rights were enabled. This issue was resolved. (PMG-689288, PMG-689292)

• Several extraneous filter buttons that were visible in the List Layout Customization dialog box were removed. (PMG-689385)

• Issues with keyboard navigation and cursor placement throughout the system were resolved. (PMG-690952)

• Two issues affecting offices in read-only mode were resolved:

- Users were able to add, modify and delete home page tabs.

- The commands for sending broadcast and private alerts through the Alert Center were visible.

(PMG-691824)

Alert Center

• An issue that was preventing the Delete Message Center Record command in the Alert Center from working was resolved. (PMG-663886)

Contact Management

• When manually posting files to the Letters/Documents content link of a contact or other record, users were finding that the new files were not appearing in the Letter Log and Document List. SmartOffice Pro requires a page refresh to display the new files. As a workaround, SmartOffice now reminds the user to manually refresh the page. (PMG-658728)

• An issue that was preventing the Start the Timer icon from displaying properly was resolved. (PMG-669016)

• In Chrome, the Remarks field on the contact Personal content link was small and was displaying only one line of text with a scroll bar. This issue was resolved. (PMG-673596)

• In certain scenarios, key relationships between contacts were appearing differently from how they were set up. This issue was resolved. (PMG-681520)

• When users tried to add a key relation for a contact record that had no specified gender, the system was freezing. This issue was resolved. (PMG-682418)

• After selecting the Marketing Options command for a contact, users who selected a campaign using the mouse were encountering an error about invalid campaign information, even when the information was valid. This issue was resolved. (PMG-684517)

• Issues with accessing household records for contacts exported to another office were resolved. (PMG-688184)

• An issue that was preventing users from modifying the Preferred Address, Primary Residence Address and Mark as Bad Address check boxes for electronically downloaded addresses was resolved. (PMG-689066)

• During the New (Comprehensive) contact creation workflow, users who added a household member were encountering an "insert/update failed" error. This issue was resolved. (PMG-689100)

• Existing key relationships were interfering with the creation of additional key relationships involving the same contacts. This issue was resolved. (PMG-689851)

Dynamic Reports

• An issue was occurring when users changed the default labels of the Miscellaneous Information custom fields on the contact Add'l Personal content link. When users ran a Dynamic Report containing those columns from Microsoft Excel, Excel was displaying the default column names instead of the customized names. This issue was resolved. (PMG-684090)

• In Dynamic Reports using group sorting, pie charts were not working properly. Users who clicked pie slices to retrieve more detailed information were finding that data displayed was incomplete or different than expected. This issue was resolved. (PMG-686183)

• Activity Dynamic Reports were not displaying results when the Don't prompt User Calendar Selection at run-time option was selected in Dynamic Report Setup. This issue was resolved. (PMG-687934)

Home Page

• For a Dynamic Report portlet on the home page, users who selected the Entire Tab layout option were finding that the portlet was not filling the entire height of the tab. This issue was resolved. (PMG-671094)

• An issue that prevented dashboard content from refreshing properly was resolved. (PMG-682491)

• When the heights of home page portlets were set to 1, the portlets were overlapping each other. This issue was resolved so that portlets with a height of 1 display only their title bars and do not overlap. (PMG-685730)

• An issue that was preventing Dynamic Reports from loading in home page portlets was resolved. (PMG-690599)

PDF Reports

• An issue that was occurring when users tried to add a PDF report to a report package was resolved. In the PDF Report List dialog box, the Report Category drop-down list was not working. (PMG-629266)

• An issue with the Save Settings option available when users run PDF reports was resolved. The saved report was missing its Delete button in the Select a Report to Run dialog box. (PMG-678877)

• Users were able to run certain investment, commission, pending case and group policy PDF reports even when they did not have the appropriate module licenses. This issue was resolved. (PMG-685333)

SmartPad

• Users who did not have the Delete permission for SmartPad notes were still seeing the Delete command on the Archived Notes tab in the SmartPad. This issue was resolved. (PMG-686788)

SmartCalendar

Resolved Issues

• The Add Important Dates to the Calendar feature was adding birthdays that fell outside of the specified date range. This issue was resolved. (PMG-649611)

• In the All-Day Events section of the Calendar Month view, the dark background color was making text difficult to read. This issue was resolved. (PMG-653142)

• Users who created an appointment activity for a future date were receiving an immediate activity reminder. This issue was resolved. (PMG-656101)

• SmartOffice users who opened the pop-up calendar were being signed out unexpectedly from SmartOffice after 15-20 minutes. This issue was resolved. (PMG-661158)

• An issue with the Activity Detail dialog box involving favorite users was resolved. The issue occurred when a user pointed to the Add New Participant button in the User Participants section to display the list of favorite users. The list was disappearing as soon as the user tried to move the mouse pointer to select a favorite. (PMG-682861)

• An issue affecting the standard activity outcome workflow was resolved. When a previously rescheduled task was marked Done, users who tried to reschedule the activity again were finding that a new activity was being created instead. This was happening even though the Contact later today outcome option appeared to be preselected. (PMG-684452)

• When creating an activity, users who navigated to the Scheduling tab of the Activity Detail dialog box and then navigated back to the Activity tab were finding that the Save & Close and Cancel buttons were missing. The buttons were restored. (PMG-686598)

• Two issues affecting the Calendar Week view were resolved:

- In the All-Day Events section, clicking any of the New All-Day Event buttons was creating a task by default instead of an all-day event.

- In the calendar itself, clicking any of the New Calendar Activity buttons was creating a task by default instead of a timed calendar activity.

(PMG-687805)

SmartOpportunities

Enhancements

• Ability to assign staff users as opportunity owners: Users whose user type is Staff can now be assigned as opportunity owners. Previously, only Producer/Manager-type users could be opportunity owners. (PMG-649574)

Resolved Issues

• When a user added a Call-type activity action to an opportunity stage, the OK and Cancel buttons were cut off. This issue was resolved. (PMG-680649)

SmartLeads

Resolved Issues

• An issue that was preventing users from accepting leads was resolved. (PMG-689883)

Advisors/Agencies

Enhancements

General

• Default active advisor/agency list view: The Advisor List, Agency List and Advisor & Agency List now display Active-status advisor and agency records by default. Previously, these lists displayed all advisors and agencies by default. (PMG-565964)

• Improvements to advisor reassignment: The Advisor Reassignment feature, which reassigns contacts and their holdings from one advisor to another, was enhanced in two ways:

- The system now allows any holding linked to an advisor to be reassigned, regardless of the advisor's role. Previously, the system allowed reassignment of only those holdings for which the advisor had the Primary Advisor role.

- A Reassigned advisor role was added to the system. Once a holding is reassigned, the old advisor is now added to the holding's advisor list with a role of Reassigned. Note that this change does not apply to advisor roles for which an "Old" role designation already exists in the system (e.g., Old - Primary Advisor, Old - Referral Advisor, Old - Servicing Advisor, Old - Writing Advisor).

(PMG-676676)

Resolved Issues

General

• On the Presale Activity/Proposals tab for contact and advisor records, the page heading was not displaying the contact or advisor name. This issue was resolved. (PMG-678945)

• Using the Link Requirement to Existing Pending Case command from a presale activity record was not adding the Presale Activity/Proposals content link to the selected pending case record. This issue was resolved. (PMG-679808)

• Users were encountering an error when trying to send a letter from the Advisor Reassignment workflow. This issue was resolved.  (PMG-683399)

• Users were encountering an error when they tried to send case status reports with the Print All option selected. In addition, Internet Explorer users who tried to print case status reports were finding that not all selected cases were being printed. These issues were resolved. (PMG-687827)

SmartPolicies

Featured Enhancements

Ability to Mass Assign an Additional Advisor to Multiple Policies

It is now possible to assign the same non-primary advisor to multiple policies simultaneously. To use this feature, tag multiple policies in a list, select Menu > Advanced Options > Mass Assign Advisor, and then specify the advisor and role. Advisors added to policies in this way are assigned a split percentage of zero. (PMG-676678)

Resolved Issues

• Chrome users who tried to merge policies were finding that the record merge dialog box was not opening properly in some instances. This issue was resolved. (PMG-673922)

• A data import issue involving policies linked to resource-office products was resolved. Product options mapped during the import process were not appearing in the imported policies, even when those options were present in the linked product. (PMG-678282)

• Several issues with the ActiveLifeCommAnlzdPremYTD and ActiveLifePoliciesYTD merge codes were resolved:

- The merge codes were not displaying values properly when expanded.

- When the advisor's split percentage for a policy was zero, the ActiveLifePoliciesYTD merge code was displaying the commission premium value instead of a zero value.

- The ActiveLifePoliciesYTD merge code was not displaying premium values for policies that went inforce in January 2016.

- The ActiveLifePoliciesYTD merge code was not displaying the client's name for each policy.

(PMG-687392)

Insurance Products and Carriers

Resolved Issues

• In the New - Insurance Carrier dialog box, users were unable to select a carrier using the Lookup button. This issue was resolved. (PMG-689654)

• On the carrier Underwriting Guidelines and Notes content link, users who tried to add a requirement to the Office/Agency Requirements section were encountering an error. This issue was resolved. (PMG-691195)

SmartCaseManager

Resolved Issues

• An issue with the policy/pending case correspondence workflow was resolved. When sending an e-mail form letter, users who tried to select the recipient's address were seeing the drop-down list in a different part of the dialog box. This issue was resolved. (PMG-671288)

• Issues with pending case mass correspondence were resolved:

- When the letter template contained a default e-mail subject line, users selecting correspondence options were finding that the subject was not appearing.

- The option to select Trustee as the recipient was not available, even when the selected records had trustees designated.

(PMG-673137)

• Several issues with the side-by-side processing dialog box were resolved:

- Users were unable to add requirement notes.

- Users who tried to view home-office policy notes were finding that the notes dialog box was not opening properly.

- There was no space between buttons.

(PMG-678953)

• An issue affecting informal universal life pending cases linked to one or more child cases was resolved. When the user viewed the Benefits content link of the parent or child case, the page title read "Whole Life" instead of "Universal Life." (PMG-680080)

• Users were unable to print or e-mail form letters to a resource office carrier from a pending case or policy when the carrier had no preferred address specified. This issue was resolved. (PMG-690342)

SmartBenefits

Resolved Issues

• Users who did not have a Group Benefits (Group Policy) license were still able to access the Add Members to Group Policy command on the business Employee Census content link. This issue was resolved. (PMG-671286)

• When running group policy PDF reports from the Group Policy List, users were seeing field alignment issues in the report options dialog box. These issues were resolved. (PMG-681097)

SmartCommissions

Featured Enhancements

Batch Information in Carrier Posting Lists

To quickly see information about the commission batch associated with a particular carrier posting, users can now add columns from the Commission Batch table to the Carrier Posting List and the Carrier Posting content link of carrier records. The table includes columns such as Batch Name, Date, Sent to Job Queue and Status. (PMG-620875)

Resolved Issues

General

• After selecting the Edit Commission Rates command on the Commission Rates List, users were encountering freezes and other user interface issues when they added the Paid Mode column to the layout. These issues were resolved. (PMG-670158)

• Using the Edit Multiple Records command to process or close expected commission transactions on a pending case was preventing users from later editing or adding remarks to those transactions. This issue was resolved. (PMG-679554)

• An issue that SmartCommissions for Advisors users were encountering with the policy Expected Commission List was resolved. The Split Percentage column from the Commission Amount Reconciliation table was not displaying values, even for policies containing splits. (PMG-688016)

• When negative gross or net commission amounts were manually entered in commission records, the system was not considering those values in commission calculations. This issue was resolved. (PMG-680139)

• While searching for advisor payments, users who specified an advisor in the Payee field of the search dialog box were seeing a blank results list. This issue, which occurred when the advisor had a middle name, was resolved. (PMG-692213)

• When adding transactions to the Advisor Transaction List of an advisor transaction posting, users were finding that the OK and Close buttons were overlapping the End Date field. In addition, after clicking the OK button, users were unable to properly select records in the Advisor Transaction List. These issues were resolved. (PMG-697378)

Batch Processing

• When trying to link a carrier posting to a newly created commission batch, users were seeing a blank carrier posting list. This issue was resolved. (PMG-691565)

Speed Receipts

• An issue was occurring when users entered commission transactions in a speed receipt entry using the spreadsheet-style dialog box. If the dialog box's column layout did not contain the Commission Type column, users were encountering an error. This issue was resolved. (PMG-606296)

• When working with speed receipts, users were encountering an issue when they edited multiple commission records at once using the spreadsheet-style entry method. After pressing the TAB key to create a row, users were finding that the cursor was appearing in the second column of the new row instead of the first column. This issue was resolved. (PMG-670751)

SmartWholesaler

Resolved Issues

• Users who tried to merge producer records were encountering duplicate "missing contact information" errors. This issue was resolved. (PMG-695720)

SmartInvestments

Featured Enhancements

Personal Holdings Workflow Enhancement

Users can now create personal holdings directly from the Global Investment Position List. This enhancement changes the workflow for creating positions from that list. Now, the user is prompted to select a security type first. If the user selects a personal-holding security type (i.e., Bank Account, Notes Receivable, Personal Property or Real Estate), the system prompts the user to select the appropriate contact or business. (PMG-628675)

Other Enhancements

Investment Accounts

• Improved column layout for Deleted Account List: The default list layout of the Deleted Account List was modified to provide more relevant information to users. The list now contains the following columns (the associated database tables are in parentheses): Contact Name (Contact), Account # (Investment Accounts), Account Name (Investment Accounts), Tax ID (Investment Accounts), Private Record (Investment Accounts), Total Value (Investment Accounts). (PMG-650925)

Investment Reports

• Interested party report improvement: For Investment-family Dynamic Reports in the Account - Interested Party category, users can now filter on the First Name and Last Name columns of the Investment Accounts - Primary Contact table. (PMG-640513)

Investment Validation

• New option to control Validate command: Enterprise customers can now control the Validate command’s behavior. Normally, selecting the command validates only records that have changed (this is known as Smart Validation). With this enhancement, a server administrator can alter that behavior so that validation occurs regardless of whether a record has changed. This is accomplished through a new setting in the server config.xml file, added as a child element under . The syntax is as follows:

false

If the value is false, validation occurs whenever the Validate command is selected. If true, validation occurs normally, i.e., only when a change affecting the record has occurred. (PMG-688448)

Resolved Issues

General

• After adding columns to the following lists, users who clicked the Menu button were finding that the menu was cut off:

- Investment Accounts Not Assigned to a Contact

- Reconciliation Report List

(PMG-647163)

Asset Allocation

• Users were encountering an issue when viewing asset allocation data for a contact, household, investment account or account group from a child office. When a custom asset class from the parent office was included in the asset allocation, the Asset Class column was displaying a number instead of the asset class name. This issue was resolved. (PMG-664567)

• Two issues affecting asset allocation models residing in the System office were resolved:

- When a model was assigned to a contact, household, account or account group in a local office, users who accessed the model from the side menu (Investments > Asset Allocation Models) were not seeing the records in the model's Contact, Household, Investment Accounts and Account Groups tabs.

- Users who tried to add a record to a model's Contact, Household, Investment Accounts or Account Groups tab were encountering a message stating that the action could not be completed.

(PMG-654774)

Investment Accounts

• On the Global Investment Account List, users who selected all records using the Tag All box were then unable to mass modify the Custodian column. This issue was resolved. (PMG-675935)

Investment Positions

• After a position was deleted from the Account Positions content link of an investment account, the position's value was still being included in the subtotal line until the user refreshed the page. This issue was resolved. (PMG-619252)

• A duplicate Position Status column was removed from the Global Investment Position List. (PMG-619518)

• Calculated columns created from the side menu (Setup > Calculated Columns) were not available for addition to the contact Investment Positions tab. The issue, which occurred when the calculation involved columns from the Investment Position table, was resolved. (PMG-635006)

• On the Position Detail content link of Notes Receivable positions, users were encountering issues with the layout and Pick Date buttons on the Balance/Date and Maturity Date fields. These issues were resolved. (PMG-647900)

• The Relink Position to Another Account command was available for subaccount positions, even though such positions cannot be relinked. The command was removed from those positions. (PMG-660691)

Investment Reports

• On the report options for the Client Transaction Report and Daily Blotter PDF reports, users were able to select options from the Cost Options drop-down list, even though the drop-down list appeared to be dimmed and unavailable. This issue was resolved. (PMG-660389)

• An issue with configuring report options for Performance-category investment PDF reports was resolved. Users were unable to save the report options because of issues with the Holding Type sort option. (PMG-678939)

• In the run-time report options for the Balance Sheet - Bank Format PDF report, the Options section was displaying incorrect options. The correct options were restored. (PMG-682826)

Investment Securities

• An issue with the Missing Prices utility was resolved. When the user selected a date range for which the selected security already had prices, the utility was not displaying the message stating that no missing prices were found. (PMG-660644)

Investment Validation

• Local-office investment positions linked to parent-office securities were not being marked as eligible for validation when the securities were updated. This issue was resolved. (PMG-686166)

Integrations and Data Services

Resolved Issues

Investment Data Download

• In the Data Import Log, columns from the Contact table were not displaying values. This issue and a related list sorting issue were resolved. (PMG-674873)

• An issue with Raymond James downloads that was creating blank Miscellaneous-type security records in SmartOffice was resolved. (PMG-678138)

Pending Case Download

• The Mark Processed command was not working when used from the Basic Information content link of an HO pending case. This issue was resolved. (PMG-676980)

• Two intermittent issues with downloaded dates were resolved:

- When the as-of date in the download was a past date, it was appearing as the current date in SmartOffice.

- The signed date in the download was not being copied to the status history in SmartOffice.

(PMG-690835)

• The status change date in the download was not being copied to the pending case Status Date field in SmartOffice. This issue was resolved. (PMG-691531)

SmartOffice Anywhere Changes

Note: SmartOffice Anywhere changes are also summarized on the Release History page in SmartOffice Anywhere Help.

Featured Enhancements

Calendar Usability Improvements

Several enhancements were made to the calendar to make it easier to read and use:

• Activities now display using the same colors that the user sees in SmartOffice Pro.

• Day numbers in the month view are now aligned left instead of right.

• Activity display in the month view was simplified. On small screens, a dot now indicates days on which activities are scheduled; tapping the dot opens the day view to display the activities.

On large screens, only one activity appears for any day. To see all activities for the day, the user taps or clicks a small arrow to open the day view.

• A new button on the week and month views lets users switch between a five-day and seven-day view. The five-day view hides Saturdays and Sundays.

(PMG-670943)

Faster Activity Outcome Tracking

Users can now record activity outcomes more quickly and efficiently. The following features were moved from the second screen of the outcome wizard to the first screen:

• Outcome drop-down list

• Outcome Notes field

• Add Activity button

• Add Referral button

When an option is selected from the Outcome drop-down list that displays additional fields, those fields now also appear at the bottom of the first screen.

These changes enable users who do not need to select comprehensive outcome options to complete the activity from the first screen.

(PMG-678876)

Resolved Issues

• An issue with the Permission to Keep in Touch activity outcome workflow was resolved. Users who selected the Obtained Permission to Keep in Touch - Review Date outcome were encountering a message stating that no review date was available for the contact, even when the contact had a review date. (PMG-627405)

• An issue that was preventing users from sorting by the Type column on the Advisor/Agencies List was resolved. (PMG-636565)

• New opportunity records were not displaying the office-default process until they were saved. This issue was resolved. (PMG-644452)

• During the activity outcome workflow, users who closed the Add Referral screen without adding a referral were finding that the activity was not being marked as Done. This issue was resolved. (PMG-688168)