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Last updated: 2025-12-03


Release Notes - SmartOffice 2020 Release 2


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.


July 9, 2020


  • Initial publication

July 10, 2020


  • Release Overview: Reorganized and expanded Core System highlights section.
  • Core System: Added link to additional help for "New page layout save options" enhancement (PMG-873945).
  • Integrations and Data Services: Added Insurance Sync enhancements.

July 14, 2020


  • Release Overview: Added Agency Management highlights section.
  • Core System: Added solution for missing dashboards in enterprise office hierarchies (PMG-882065).
  • Core System: Added solution for dashboard management issues (PMG-886472).
  • SmartCalendar: Added solution for activity rescheduling issue (PMG-886799).
  • Advisors/Agencies: Added "Referral information in presale activities" enhancement (PMG-886553).
  • Advisors/Agencies: Added solution for inability to edit advisor requirements (PMG-890458)
  • SmartCaseManager: Added solution for automated contracting/compliance letter issue (PMG-821132).
  • SmartCommissions: Added "Improved payment creation by interest %" enhancement (PMG-848924).
  • SmartCommissions: Added "Carrier Direct column" enhancement (PMG-880753).
  • Minor text and formatting changes.

July 29, 2020


  • SmartCommissions: Added "Mass Projection Improvements" enhancement and included it in the Enhancement Highlights section (PMG-885124).

Release Overview


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.


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


Option to Show Unmasked SSNs in PDF Reports

Administrators can now set an option at the office level to display unmasked Social Security numbers in PDF reports that display that information. To enable this option, on the office Detail content link, select the Show unmasked SS#/Tax ID in PDF report option under General Information.


(PMG-825619)


Age Information in Key Relations Column

The All Key Relations column, available on lists such as the Contact List, now displays the age of each key relation in parentheses.


 This can be useful for quickly identifying important relations, such as dependents over age 18. (PMG-836408)


Setting to Ignore Small E-mail Attachments

Office administrators can now configure SmartOffice to ignore e-mail attachments that fall below a certain file size when users post e-mail messages to the system. In Setup > Office Settings, go to the SmartPad/New Contact/E-mail Posting content link and look for the Ignore e-mail attachments below \_\_\_ (KB) field under E-mail Posting Options.


When this field is blank, SmartOffice uses the server's default setting of 5 KB (this value may be different for enterprise customers; check the element in the server config.xml file). Entering 0 in this field allows attachments of any size to be posted to SmartOffice. (PMG-883684)


Unlimited Grouping Levels in Charts

Charts added to lists now support unlimited levels of grouping. In previous versions, SmartOffice supported only three levels. (PMG-884456)


Improved Dialog Box Sizing for High-Resolution Displays

When a dialog box containing a list (e.g., the SmartPad) opens in SmartOffice, the box's width is now 85% of the width of the browser window. In previous SmartOffice versions, these dialog boxes were opening at a fixed width that was not optimized for high-resolution displays and larger browser window widths. This enhancement makes more columns visible, reducing the need for horizontal scrolling. (PMG-879408)


KB/MB File Size Columns for Documents

In document lists, users can now view file sizes expressed in kilobytes or megabytes (previously, the only option was bytes). Two new columns, Size (KB) and Size (MB), are now available for these list layouts.


(PMG-883248)


Other Enhancements


General

  • Message for disabling offices in a hierarchy: When a System-office user tries to disable an office linked to one more active child offices in an office hierarchy, SmartOffice now displays a message stating that the child offices must be unlinked first. Previously, the system was refreshing the page without disabling the office and without providing an explanation. (PMG-825023)
  • Improved page layout reset control: After a custom page layout is applied to the entire office, users with the Page Layout Customization - User user right who apply their own layouts can now reset to the SmartOffice or office default layout. Previously, these users lost the ability to reset to the SmartOffice default layout once a template was applied to all users in the office. Also as part of this enhancement, a new Office Default Template column is now available in page layout template lists so that users can more easily identify templates that have been applied office-wide. (PMG-873021)
  • New page layout save options: For users who have the Page Layout Customization - Office user right, the options for applying custom page layouts have been improved to provide greater control. When these users select Apply or Save & Apply on a page layout, they now have more flexibility in determining which user accounts the changes will apply to.

For more information, refer to the Page Layout Customization topic. (PMG-873945)


  • Better sorting of user account data: When the User Roles and User Permissions columns from the User table appear in lists and Dynamic Reports, the contents of those columns are now sorted alphabetically to make the information easier to consume. (PMG-885459)

Contact Management

  • Additional field in contact quick-create dialog box: When a user selects Contact from the Add New menu, the New - Contact dialog box that opens now includes the Sub-Type field. (PMG-674965)
  • Improved address/phone management for key relations: When a user adds a dependent or a Family-type key relation to a contact, SmartOffice now asks whether all of the contact's addresses and phone numbers should be copied over. Previously, the system was copying that information over automatically. (PMG-884449)

Correspondence

  • Merge codes for shared custom fields: In enterprise office hierarchies that use custom field sharing, users in child offices can now include parent-office custom fields when generating correspondence. The following new merge codes are now available to child-office users:

- F\_OPP\_CUSTOM\_ParentAlphaNum1 through F\_OPP\_CUSTOM\_ParentAlphaNum15


- F\_OPP\_CUSTOM\_ParentDate1 through F\_OPP\_CUSTOM\_ParentDate5


- F\_OPP\_CUSTOM\_ParentInt1 through F\_OPP\_CUSTOM\_ParentInt6


- F\_OPP\_CUSTOM\_ParentLookup1 through F\_OPP\_CUSTOM\_ParentLookup5


- F\_OPP\_CUSTOM\_ParentYesyNo1 through F\_OPP\_CUSTOM\_ParentYesNo10



(PMG-884244)



Dynamic Reports

  • Increased character limit for Dynamic Report e-mails: When configuring automatic e-mailing rules for Dynamic Reports, users can now enter up to 6,000 characters in the E-mail Body field. The previous limit was 4,000 characters. (PMG-883655)

Resolved Issues


General

  • Two issues with record tag management were resolved:

  • On the Office Settings > Record Tags content link, the Menu commands for creating and deleting tags were missing.
  • For enterprise customers, when a System office user tried to access the Office Settings > Record Tags content link of a child office, the Office Settings > Detail content link was opening instead.

(PMG-878876)


  • While editing a custom page layout, users who removed a field from the layout were finding that the field was not appearing in the list of available fields until after the page layout was saved. This issue was resolved. (PMG-883023)
  • Removing a custom field from a custom page layout was leaving the field label in the layout until the user saved the changes. This issue was resolved. (PMG-884650)
  • Some users were unexpectedly being taken to the SmartOffice home page in the middle of a workflow or when reloading a page in Chrome. This issue was resolved. (PMG-885734)
  • After customizing the User List to include the User Permissions column, users who then navigated to Office Settings and selected the User Accounts tab were encountering an error. This issue was resolved. (PMG-889591)

Contact Management

  • During key relation creation, when the contact search came up empty, the command to create a contact was missing from the Contact List dialog box. This command was restored. (PMG-645287)
  • When a household custom page layout contained a custom field, that field was no longer visible on the household Custom content link. This issue was resolved. (PMG-883758)
  • An error that was occurring when users tried to merge contacts was resolved. (PMG-890109)

Dynamic Reports

  • An issue with Dynamic Report filter configuration was resolved. When users applied certain Next or Previous popular date ranges to a date column (e.g. Next 3 Months), the report results were not properly reflecting the selected date range. (PMG-220557)
  • An issue that was preventing the results of a presale activity analytic (Excel) report from opening in Excel was resolved. (PMG-865604)
  • Layout issues affecting Dynamic Reports that display pie charts were resolved. (PMG-881277)
  • When a Dynamic Reports was configured to be e-mailed automatically on a monthly schedule, modifying the report was resetting the schedule and causing the report to be sent the next day. This issue was resolved. (PMG-889300)

Home Page

  • In enterprise office hierarchies, dashboards created in the System office or a parent office were not available to users in child offices in some instances. The issue was occurring when users in lower offices who have the Dashboard(s) Administrator user right assigned those dashboards to specific users. To prevent this issue, SmartOffice no longer allows users in child offices to assign dashboards created in the System office or a parent office. (PMG-882065)
  • Several dashboard management issues were resolved:

- Renaming a dashboard was not updating its modification date in the database.


- Dashboard creators were unable to assign or delete their dashboards in some instances.


- When office security was enabled, Super Users were unable to assign or delete dashboards in some instances.



(PMG-886472)


  • When users tried to add certain websites to a SmartOffice home page tab, the system was displaying the message "Error Loading URL. Open this content in a new window." This issue was resolved. (PMG-887533)

SmartPad

  • In custom page layouts, users were unable to forward or reply to posted e-mail messages from the SmartPad Notes portlet. This issue was resolved. (PMG-748754)
  • An issue that occurred when the SmartPad Notes portlet was added to the contact page layout was resolved. Entries added through that portlet were not visible in the SmartPads of other contacts from the same household using the SmartPad household view. (PMG-887996)

SmartCalendar


Enhancements


  • Activity detail improvement: When a user expands or collapses the Options section in the Activity Detail dialog box, SmartOffice now remembers the section's current state and displays it the same way the next time the user views an activity's details. (PMG-852718)

Resolved Issues


  • On the contact Personal content link, when a user created a Done activity by selecting Menu > Activity Options > Activity Outcome, any text entered in the Activity Description field was not appearing in the saved activity. This issue was resolved. (PMG-885342)
  • In some instances, using the Menu > Print Calendar command was producing calendar printouts with text that was cut off. This issue was resolved. (PMG-886022)
  • When a Call or Appointment activity was marked Done, the Calls Made or Appointments Made column in the Contact List was not updating accordingly for the linked contact. This issue was resolved. (PMG-886753)
  • Issues with rescheduled activities not being recorded properly in the SmartPad were resolved. (PMG-886799)

SmartOpportunities


Featured Enhancements


User-Level Default Sales Process


The default opportunity sales process that is selected when a user creates an opportunity can now be configured at the user level. In User Preferences > Basic Info, use the new Default Opportunity Process field under General Information to specify the default (this field is visible only when the user has an Opportunity license).



This user-level default process takes precedence over any default process specified for the entire office in Opportunity Setup. It also applies to opportunity creation in SmartOffice Anywhere. (PMG-780671)


Higher Character Limit for Opportunity Remarks

The Remarks field on the opportunity Detail content link can now accept a maximum of 4,000 characters. The previous limit was 2,048. (PMG-886251)


Mass Modification of Opportunity Custom Fields

If custom fields are defined on the opportunity Custom content link, those fields can now be modified for multiple opportunities at once. On the Opportunity List, open the Mass Modification dialog box (Menu > Advanced Options > Mass Modify) and select a field under Opportunity Custom.


(PMG-887377)


Resolved Issues


  • After viewing the Opportunities tab of a contact linked to multiple opportunities, users who then navigated to the same tab of a contact with only one opportunity were seeing the first contact's opportunities when they clicked the List content link. This issue was resolved. (PMG-814646)
  • An issue with the contact Referred By column in opportunity lists and Dynamic Reports was preventing users from properly sorting on that column. This issue was resolved. (PMG-849789)
  • In custom page layouts, the opportunity Current Stage and Previous Stage drop-down lists were not working in these instances:

- When any field was removed from the Opportunity Detail portlet


- When the drop-down lists were added to a custom portlet



These issues were resolved. (PMG-859844, PMG-881809)


  • Customizing the page layout of the opportunity Detail content link was causing the Current Stage and Previous Stage fields to display numerals instead of stage names. This issue was resolved. (PMG-867783)
  • When correspondence was generated by an opportunity stage action, SmartOffice was adding an entry to the linked contact's SmartPad and Letters/Documents content link but not to the opportunity notes. This issue was resolved. (PMG-882437)
  • Several issues with the opportunity Related Resources/Competition content link were resolved:

- Changing the primary owner was not updating that information on the opportunity Detail content link.


- The Role and Percentage columns in the Related Resources section were not always displaying values.


- Attempting to add a user who was already in the Related Resources section was displaying an incorrect error message.



(PMG-884345)


  • In Opportunity Setup, when a user added an activity to a stage action, the activity Description field was accepting no more than 1,024 characters, which is lower than the limit for activities created elsewhere in the system. This issue was resolved. (PMG-885293)

SmartEvents


Resolved Issues


  • When an event's status was changed to Active, SmartOffice was creating duplicate calendar activities corresponding to the event start and end dates/times. This issue was resolved. (PMG-886276)

Advisors/Agencies


Enhancements


General

  • Referral information in presale activities: Users can now track customer referral information in presale activities. A Referred By field was added to the presale activity Detail content link under SmartOffice Reference Data.

If the presale activity is converted to a pending case, the data in this new field is transferred to the case record. (PMG-886553)


  • Improved carbon-copy recipient configuration: When adding a recipient to an advisor's Carbon Copy List, users can now select all of the options under Select Letter Purpose at once using the new check box at the top of that section.

(PMG-883815)



Resolved Issues


General

  • An issue was occurring when an advisor-agency key relationship was established in a child office. When an Enterprise View user signed in to the child office and viewed the agency's Key Relations content link, the Business Hierarchy list was displaying the agency but not the advisor. This issue was resolved. (PMG-749512)
  • An issue with filling in the Agency field of an advisor record was resolved. When SmartOffice asked whether the agency's address should be added to the advisor record, users who selected Yes were finding that the address was being copied, but the address Remarks field was not. (PMG-875746)
  • A navigation issue affecting the advisor Policy tab was resolved. When users opened a policy record and clicked a contact's name in the Policy Insured List, the system was displaying the contact record, but clicking any tab on the page was producing no result. (PMG-883560)
  • Several issues with advisor/producer and agency/firm custom page layouts were resolved:

- On the agency Detail content link, users who clicked the Supervisor link were seeing a "Missing Primary Keys in URL" error.


- On the advisor Personal and agency Detail content links, adding or removing fields from the Miscellaneous Information section was causing the Case Manager field in the same section to become mandatory.


- On the distributor Personal and Firm content links, SmartWholesaler users were finding that adding or removing fields from the Personal/Business Information section was causing the Case Manager field in the same section to become mandatory.



(PMG-884008)


  • Users who customized the Business Information section of the agency Detail content link were finding that the Tax ID field was formatted incorrectly. This issue was resolved. (PMG-884087)
  • When agency records were mass modified, any changes that caused key relations to change were not triggering a key relations refresh in the modified records. This issue was resolved. (PMG-884795)
  • The system was not allowing users to save changes to an advisor record when the Case Manager field was blank. This issue was resolved. (PMG-886000)
  • When changes were made to a presale activity, the Modified On field was being updated in the database, but the Modified By field was not. This issue was resolved. (PMG-886199)
  • While viewing the details of an advisor request from the advisor Requests/Requirements content link, users who added a Manual-type requirement to the Requirement List section were finding that they could not edit the requirement. This issue was resolved. (PMG-890458)
  • When creating a custom page layout for advisor records, users who added the Detail Information portlet to the layout were encountering an issue. The portlet's Status field was still appearing in the list of available columns, allowing users to add a second instance of the field to the layout. Once the layout was applied, the Birth Date field was displaying dates using an incorrect format. This issue was resolved. (PMG-891188)

SmartPolicies


Enhancements


  • Search by policy priority: When using the advanced policy search feature, users can now search by priority. The Search Policies dialog box was enhanced to includes a Priority drop-down list.

(PMG-857777)


  • New policy merge code: A new merge code, MaskedPrimaryInsuredSSN, enables users to insert the Social Security number of the primary insured into policy correspondence using the masked format XXX-XX-1234. (PMG-883201)
  • New death benefit options: On the policy Benefits content link, the Death Benefit Option drop-down list has several new choices that correspond to ACORD standard values:

- Adjustable


- DB = Face Amount + interest percent)


- Decreasing based on a commuted value


- Decreasing DB based on client specified schedule


- Increasing (DB = Face + Cash)


- Increasing (DB = Face + Return of Cumulative Premiums)


- Increasing (DB = Return of Cumulative Premiums)


- Increasing (Face + Compound Percent)


- Increasing (Face + Simple Percent)


- Increasing (Face + Sum of Deposits with Interest)


- Increasing by Greater of Invest AV or Net Deposits


- Increasing Choice (Greater of sum insured and FV)


- Increasing DB based on client specified schedule


- Level (DB = Face)


- Level Choice (DB=greater of Face or Investment AV)


- Other


- Unknown



(PMG-884210)


  • New annuity tax types: On the Benefits content link of annuity policies, the Tax Type drop-down list now includes several new choices:

- 401g  (formerly 403g)


- 401k


- 403b


- 403b Transfers Only


- 412i Plan


- 457 Deferred Compensation


- 501c9 / Heath Reimbursement


- 7702b / Long Term Care


- Cash Balance Plan-Defined Benefit


- Cash Balance Plan-Defined Contributions


- Educational IRA


- HR10/Keogh


- IRA


- IRA Rollover


- IRA Spousal


- IRA Transfer


- Inherited IRA Plan


- Inherited Roth IRA Plan


- Money Purchase Plan


- No U.S. Taxation (used for Offshore Products)


- Non-qualified


- Non-qualified Stretch Plan


- Pension Plan


- Profit Sharing Plan


- Roth 401K


- Roth 403b


- Roth 457


- Roth IRA


- SAR/SEP


- SEP-IRA


- Simple IRA


- Solo 401K


- Solo Defined Benefit


- Welfare Benefit Plan (419 Plan)



(PMG-884492)



Resolved Issues


  • On the policy Basic Information or pending case Detail content link, when users cleared the MultiLife Policy option and then saved the change, the message instructing them to unlink any linked policies was not appearing. This issue was resolved. (PMG-860953)
  • In the Rider List on the policy Benefits content link, users who tried to use the Show Hierarchy command with more than one rider selected were not seeing the message stating that only one record can be processed at a time. Instead, multiple policy advisor lists were opening. This issue was resolved. (PMG-884043)
  • The following issues that users were encountering when they added policy/pending case requirements in Edit Mode were resolved:

  • The Type column was displaying numerals instead of labels.
  • When the Type column was not present, requirement descriptions were not displaying or being saved in requirement records.
  • Adding multiple requirements was producing an error when users tried to save their changes.
  • When adding requirements to a case that had no requirements, users were finding that the new requirements contained no data.

(PMG-885091)


  • In the Requirements field of newly created policy/pending case requirements, the spelling checker was not working. This issue was resolved. (PMG-885210)
  • When the advisor on a policy had a single valid contract, updating the policy through a policy import was not automatically selecting that contract. This issue was resolved. (PMG-886630)
  • Two issues with policy custom page layouts were resolved:

- When a field was added under Important Contacts, users could not save any changes to field values unless they entered a value in the Team field. In addition, once the record was saved, the value entered in the Team field was being discarded.


- Renaming the AlphaNum1 field under Important Contacts was also renaming the Team field with the same name.



(PMG-887210)


  • After the primary advisor on a policy or pending case was changed, the Advisor and Primary Advisor columns on the Global Policy List were still showing the old advisor's name. This issue was resolved. (PMG-888023)
  • In some instances, household records were not displaying correct total policy counts under Policy Annual Premiums. This issue was resolved. (PMG-888353)
  • An issue with creating policies using the Add New button was resolved. The issue occurred when the user selected a resource-office carrier and a local-office plan for the new policy. When the user clicked the plan name to view plan details, SmartOffice was opening a list of products instead. (PMG-889433)

Insurance Products and Carriers


Enhancements


  • Variable option for all annuity products: On the Detail content link of annuity product records, the Variable Product option is now available regardless of the annuity type. (PMG-884499)
  • Faster product option selection: On the product Detail content link, the Product Options section now allows users to select multiple product options at once. Previously, selecting the New 'Options' Record command from the Options menu in that section allowed users to select only a single product option. (PMG-822208)
  • Carrier HO rep/underwriter SmartPad: The system now gives users access to the SmartPad for carrier home office reps and underwriters. On the carrier HO Reps/Underwriters content link, select a rep or underwriter record, click the Options button, and select View SmartPad Notes. (PMG-829206)
  • Rider product code list: Users can now view a history of changes to a rider's product code, just as they can for other insurance products. While viewing a rider list or the rider's Detail or Product Settings content link, select Menu > Rider Code List to view past product codes associated with the rider. (PMG-864861)

Resolved Issues


  • When a product was copied, the Premium Mode field of any entry in the new policy's Product Fee List was being set to All, regardless of the setting in the original policy. This issue was resolved. (PMG-886110)
  • On the Letters/Documents content link of a resource carrier record, the New 'Documents' Record and Link to Local Folder commands were missing from the Document List for users in the local office. This issue was resolved. (PMG-851362)
  • An issue with customizing the page layout of the carrier Detail content link was resolved. When the layout included the Advisor Items to Verify portlet, the portlet's CE Check drop-down list contained more options than the same drop-down list on the carrier's PCM Options content link contained. The choices are now the same in both locations. (PMG-847017)
  • On the HO Reps/Underwriters content link of a resource carrier record, when a user clicked the e-mail address of an HO rep or underwriter to send a message, SmartOffice was displaying an error. This issue was resolved. (PMG-861960)
  • Users who ran Product-category Dynamic Reports were finding that the following Menu commands were not working from the report results list:

- Product Migration


- Product Merge


- Copy Product



This issue was resolved. (PMG-863907)


  • When viewing a product's details from the carrier Products tab, users who tried to add an entry to the Product Options section were finding that the new entry was not appearing. This issue was resolved. (PMG-875827)
  • Users who tried to add columns from the Product Custom or Carrier Custom table to the Rider Product List were encountering an error. This issue was resolved. (PMG-878687)

SmartCaseManager


Featured Enhancements


Expanded Requirements View in Pending Cases

On the pending case Requirements content link, a new Requirement Type drop-down list enables users to view not only underwriting requirements (which is still the default view) but also delivery and policy owner service (POS) requirements.


Selecting All from the drop-down list displays all of these requirement types in a single list. (PMG-879610)


Modal Premium Update Without Annual Premium Calculation

In the Premium Information section of a policy or pending case record, selecting the Do not calculate option now allows users to update the Modal Premium field without having the system automatically calculate the Annual Prem field. (PMG-883820)


Option to Hide Case IDs from E-mail Subject Lines

In Policy/Case Setup > PCM Communication, a new option labeled Do not show Unique Case ID in Correspondence Subject Line provides offices with increased control over the information automatically displayed in pending case/policy/group policy e-mail correspondence. This option applies to all e-mails generated from policies and pending cases in the office.



(PMG-885379)


Other Enhancements


  • Improved 1035 exchange handling: On the pending case Detail content link, a generic 1035 Exchange option was added to the Inforce Request drop-down list, enabling SmartOffice to properly updated cases when the Exchange 1035 indicator is included in pending case downloads. (PMG-884784)
  • Improved pending case delivery logic: SmartOffice's logic for automatically updating certain date fields on the pending case Delivery content link was updated:

- When a case reaches the Issued stage, SmartOffice now updates the Office Expiration and Carrier Expiration date fields only when those fields are blank.


- When a case reaches the Approved stage, SmartOffice now updates the Decision Date field only if that field is blank.



(PMG-885704)


  • Mass modification of processing type: From pending case lists, users can now edit the Processing Type field for multiple cases at once when using the Mass Modify command (Menu > Advanced Options > Mass Modify). (PMG-887777)
  • New pending case status options: Several new status choices were added to the system for pending cases:

- Approved - Shopping


- Approved - Moving


- Approved - Awaiting Reqs



The Approved - Moving status is for cases that have been approved with one carrier but are being moved to another carrier. (PMG-860300)


  • New pre-screen status: A new Pre-Screen status choice is now available for policies in the Proposed stage. (PMG-863887)
  • History columns in requirement reports: In pending case requirement Dynamic Reports, users can now add and/or filter on columns from the Requirement History table, including Status, Completed, Remarks and more. (PMG-864804)
  • Alphabetical printing of case status reports: When an agency chooses to print case status reports, SmartOffice now sends the reports to the printer in alphabetical order based on the primary advisor's first name. This enhancement helps agencies assemble case status mailings to large numbers of advisors more efficiently. (PMG-864970)
  • Improved entry of second-insured data: The method for entering second-insured information in the Pending Case Add Detail dialog box was improved. The Last Name and First Name fields were replaced by a Second Insured hyperlink, which users can click to perform a contact or business search. (PMG-866374)
  • New pending case status choices: The following pending case status choices were added to the system (their associated stages are indicated in parentheses):

- 1035 Exchange Funds Received (Approved)


- Declined by OSJ (Issued)


- Branch Manager (Issued)


- Formal Case Setup (Informal Application)


- Life Settlement/Sold (Inactive)


- OSJ - Branch Manager Review (Issued)


- Pending Direction (Informal Application)


- Regional Compliance Review (Issued)


- Sale Not Approved by Regional Compliance (Issued)



(PMG-868922, PMG-872196, PMG-876332)


  • Electronic licensing and appointment improvements: SmartOffice now offers more flexible options for processing advisor license and appointment information retrieved electronically from data providers like NIPR. In Policy/Case Setup, go to Licensing/Contracting Setup > Electronic L&A Setup and create or open an existing record. The new fields are How to Process Licensing, How to Process Appointment and Process Demographic Information? For more information, see Policy/Case Setup - Licensing/Contracting Setup. (PMG-870131)
  • New case status option: The pending case status Signature Needed Informal was added to the list of available status choices. This status belongs to the Informal Application stage. (PMG-879623)
  • New mass projection option: In the Mass Projection Utility, a Delete Open commissions in given date range only option was added. This option, available when the Recalculate option is selected, tells the system to delete only those open commission projections that fall within the date range specified in the Start Date and End Date fields.

(PMG-880578)



Resolved Issues


  • Automated contracting/compliance letters configured in Policy/Case Setup were not properly expanding their merge codes. This issue was resolved. (PMG-821132)
  • Users who accessed the Initial Requirement Load section of Policy/Case Setup were noticing a constant "Loading" message and a missing horizontal scroll bar. These issues were resolved. (PMG-880130)
  • In informal child pending cases, the advisor request workflow was not starting when the carrier, plan or state was changed along with a change in case status. This issue was resolved. (PMG-885080)
  • Some Enterprise View users were encountering an error when they tried to access their pending case requirement follow-ups list. This issue was resolved. (PMG-886130)
  • Users who viewed the details of a pending case subaccount were encountering an error when they selected the Subaccount link. This issue was resolved. (PMG-887380)
  • When a term life policy was issued, the Conv Ends date was not being copied to the Final Conversion Date field on the policy Benefits content link. This issue was resolved. (PMG-888269)
  • An issue with mass modifying records on policy and pending case lists was resolved. In the Mass Modification dialog box, users who tried to search for columns belonging to the Pending Case group were getting no results, and the Pending Case group was disappearing from the column list. (PMG-841977)
  • From the Pending Cases tab of a business record, users who selected Menu > Workflow to Enter a New Case were getting an error when they tried to edit the Insured-1 section in the Pending Case Add dialog box. This issue, which affected annuity pending cases, was resolved. (PMG-860667)
  • The Last Letter On date column from the Holding table was not displaying a value for some pending cases. This issue was resolved. (PMG-864545)
  • When the status and status date on a pending case changed, the status of the linked presale activity's status was changing as expected, but the status date was not updating in some instances. This issue was resolved. (PMG-869670)
  • An issue with custom page layouts for annuity pending cases was resolved. When the layout contained the Important Contacts portlet and the portlet was modified in any way, users were then unable to update the case manager on the case. (PMG-869744)
  • An error that users were encountering when they tried to preview or send a case status report was resolved. (PMG-871191)
  • On the Requirements History List, accessible from the Requirement(s) detail dialog box, users were able to add columns from the Requirements table. Because the columns in that table are not relevant to this list, that table was removed. (PMG-871232)
  • Users who opened notes for a specific requirement and navigated to the Archived Notes tab were seeing all archived SmartPad entries created in the office. This issue was resolved so that only those archived notes related to the requirement are visible. (PMG-871813)
  • The underwriting, delivery and POS requirements of dependent insureds, second annuitants and joint annuitants were not being included in case status reports. This issue was resolved. (PMG-872585)
  • Updating the status of a pending case underwriting requirement to Received - GA was automatically updating the Required Of field to GA, even though some organizations preferred that the field remain blank. Now, the status is labeled Received, and the Required Of field is no longer updated automatically when the status is selected. (PMG-875620)
  • When an automated requirement-specific letter workflow was created in Policy/Case Setup > Letter Setup, the workflow was not working when requirements originating from another office were updated. This issue was resolved. (PMG-876316)
  • In some instances during pending case creation, users who selected a carrier and then tried to select a plan were being presented with a list of products available from all carriers. This issue was resolved. (PMG-877317)
  • On the Pending Case List, the Last Letter On date column was not updating when a new letter was edited during the preview process and then sent. This issue was resolved. (PMG-879818)
  • In some instances, advisor request merge codes were not expanding during automated letter workflows. This issue was resolved. (PMG-880442)
  • An issue with the Mass Projection utility was resolved. The issue occurred when the Advisor, Supervisor 1 and Supervisor 2 contracts were blanket contracts but the rates were carrier/product-specific. When a user ran the utility with the Refresh commission hierarchy option selected, the contracts were linked properly in the policy's commission hierarchy, but the rates were not. (PMG-883849)

SmartBenefits


Enhancements


  • Interested party reports for group policies: A new report category, Group Interested Party, was added to the Group Policy family of Dynamic Reports. Reports in this category contain extensive options for adding Interested Party table columns. (PMG-886310)
  • Contact custom columns in employee census: Users with the appropriate rights can now add contact custom data to the business Employee Census content link. When modifying the layout of the census list, select the Contact Custom table to see the available fields. (PMG-887436)
  • Streamlined group policy creation: The system no longer asks users to select an insurance type (i.e., product type) when they create group policies. The product type is now determined automatically when the user selects the product for the new policy. (PMG-795391)
  • Fast navigation to group policy from requirement follow-up: Users can now open the full group policy record from an associated group requirement follow-up. First, open the requirement follow-ups list (Insurance > Requirement Follow-Ups) and select Group Requirements from the drop-down list at the top. Then select a requirement and select Menu > Policy List. SmartOffice opens the full group policy record and automatically navigates to the policy's Group Requirements content link. (PMG-849442)
  • Page layout customization for group policies: Users can now modify the layout of group policy records to tailor the information presented to their business needs. While viewing the group policy Detail content link, select Menu > Page Layouts to get started. For more help, see Page Layout Customization. (PMG-849443)
  • Role filter for Group Policies tab: When navigating to the Group Policies tab of a contact, business, advisor or agency record, users can now filter the list of policies by role using the new Role drop-down list at the top. For example, when viewing group policies for an advisor, the user can select Writing Advisor from the Role drop-down list to display only those policies for which the advisor is a writing advisor. (PMG-868616)
  • State information for group products and policies: Users can now enter state availability information for group products using the new Group Product State List on the group product Detail content link. As part of this enhancement, a State field is now also available on the Detail content link when users view or create group policies. (PMG-849380)
  • More custom fields for group plan premium: On the Premium content link of a medical group plan, users now have access to two additional rows of alphanumeric custom fields: AlphaNum8 and AlphaNum9. Like the existing custom fields, these new fields can be used to track additional plan data that SmartOffice does not normally track. (PMG-873259)
  • Column displaying group plans: On the Group Policy List, users with the appropriate rights can now add a Group Plans column that lists the names of all plans sold under that policy. (PMG-875606)

Resolved Issues


  • Several issues that SmartWholesaler users were encountering with group policies were resolved:

- After a user created a group policy from the Add New menu, SmartOffice was not automatically displaying the new policy record.


- When a user created a group policy from the Group Policy List and saved the record, a blank pop-up window was opening.



(PMG-884564)


  • An issue with adding an employee census member to a business was resolved. Entering the member's address in the Street Line1 field and selecting the Split button was not splitting the address into the appropriate fields. (PMG-884954)
  • When a custom page layout was applied to the group policy Detail content link, group policies created afterward were not visible in SmartOffice. This issue was resolved. (PMG-885087)
  • While entering the details of a new group policy, users who typed inside the Product Name field and selected one of the matching choices that appeared were finding that the carrier information was not being filled in automatically. This issue was resolved. (PMG-885862)
  • In group policy records, when the Policy # column was added to the Policy Advisor List, the column was not displaying any data for the primary advisor. This issue was resolved. (PMG-889671)
  • Issues that were preventing users from merging group products were resolved. (PMG-858815)
  • In some instances, users who clicked an employee's name on the business Employee Census content link were seeing a blank contact list instead of the appropriate contact record. This issue was resolved. (PMG-863586)

SmartWholesaler


Resolved Issues


  • When creating a producer record, users who included a Firm Name were finding that the firm was not appearing on the Personal content link of the producer record. This issue was resolved. (PMG-884455)
  • When a user added a firm to a producer record, the system was not asking whether the user wanted add a firm address as well. In addition, users were unable to save changes to fields on the producer Personal content link under Personal Information unless they edited the Firm field first. These issues were resolved. (PMG-885940)

SmartCommissions


Featured Enhancements


Carrier Direct Column in Advisor Payment List

When viewing the details of a commission transaction, users can now see amounts paid directly to an advisor who received multiple payments from the house and the carrier. The new Carrier Direct column is available in the Advisor Payment List. (PMG-880753)


Mass Projection Improvements

Several fields in the Mass Projection utility were reorganized and/or relabeled to make them more intuitive, and an option allowing users to refresh advisor contracts and the commission hierarchy without calculating commissions was added.


As part of this enhancement, the options for manually calculating commission projections for a single policy or pending case were similarly revised.


For more information, refer to the Projected and Expected Commissions help topic. (PMG-885124)


Other Enhancements


General

  • Admin ability to edit more payment dates: Users with the Administrative Database Maintenance user right can now edit the Payable Due Date and Paid-to/Next Due Date fields in the Advisor Payment Detail dialog box. (PMG-882829)
  • Advisor payment reports in supervisor/advisor views: Users who have the CTM Supervisor View or CTM Advisor View license now have access to the Advisor Payment category of commission Dynamic Reports. (PMG-884542)

Carrier Posting

  • Improved payment creation by interest %: In a speed receipt record, when users select the Create Payments by Interest % of Policy command for a commission transaction, the transaction's Advisor Payment List now shows the house record in addition to the advisor record. (PMG-848924)
  • Carrier posting transaction export: In carrier posting records, users with the appropriate rights can now export the Expected Commission List to Excel or another supported format (learn more about exporting lists). (PMG-889730)

Resolved Issues


General

  • Several issues with the policy Expected Commission List dialog box were resolved:

- Changing the premium value for a commission record and recalculating only that record was resulting in an incorrect premium value and YTD amount in some instances.


- When a commission record was recalculated, the new modal premium value was including the rider premium in some instances.



(PMG-861825)


  • An issue that occurred when a commission record was on hold due to an advisor licensing issue was resolved. When a user added a valid license for the advisor and selected the Recheck Advisor For Lic/Cont/Appt command from the advisor Commission content link, SmartOffice was displaying an incorrect error message and was not releasing the record. (PMG-884298)
  • The system was calculating receivables incorrectly when the advisor or house was set up with a rate paid mode of As Paid with Months Advance and a commission amount on rates. This issue was resolved. (PMG-887859)
  • When users selected Insurance > Contracts from the side menu and then selected Search, the results page kept refreshing. This issue was resolved. (PMG-891549)

Batch Processing

  • An issue with processing commission batches was resolved. In some instances, SmartOffice was displaying a "Calculating Commission" progress bar that was hanging and requiring the user to abort the process. (PMG-885924)

Carrier Posting

  • In the Carrier Posting List, the Total Transaction Amount column was blank when first displayed, even for records that contained that information. Opening the record and then navigating back to the list was causing the values to display as expected. This issue was resolved. (PMG-887281)

SmartInvestments


Enhancements


Investment Accounts

  • New ways to create rep ID entries: Users now have additional ways to create rep number entries for investment accounts. From the Account Detail content link, select the Rep Number field link and note the New button added to the Search Rep Numbers dialog box.

(PMG-884306)



Integrations and Data Services


Enhancements


Pending Case Downloads

  • Placement end date mapping: The value in downloaded pending cases is now mapped to the Carrier Expiration field in SmartOffice. (PMG-883368)
  • Improved risk class processing: The processing of risk classes in downloaded cases was improved to accommodate carrier class names and to save more carrier-defined values as remarks. (PMG-887612)

SmartIntegrator and SmartXchange

  • Insurance Sync enhancements: Several improvements were made to the Insurance Sync feature:

  • Support for multiple advisors with the same role: When a pending case is linked to multiple advisors with the same role (e.g., two advisors with the role "Additional Writing Advisor"), Insurance Sync now synchronizes all of the advisors. Previously, the system was synchronizing only one of the advisors and ignoring the others. (PMG-889754)
  • New sync status fields in pending case records: Two new fields, iSync Status and iSync Date, can now be added to the policy and pending case records of advisors using page layout customization. These read-only fields reflect the current status and status date  in the agency office. Previously, status and status date information from the agency office was overwriting the Status/Status Date fields in the advisor office during sync, which was causing problems for advisors who managed case status updates in a different way compared to the agency. (PMG-889581)
  • Expanded conditions for stopping case sync: Advisors can now configure Insurance Sync to stop synchronizing cases from the agency once they reach any stage (not just the Active and/or Inactive stages). In the Manage Connection dialog box, select the Sync Cases Conditionally option to see a list of stages available for selection. (PMG-887807)
  • Linking of policy insured contacts: When policy insured contacts with the role of Owner, Payor or Beneficiary are synchronized to the advisor's office, SmartOffice now looks for matches among existing contacts in the database and links any matching contacts to the policy. Previously, these contacts were always appearing as unlinked contacts in the Policy Insured List. Matching is based on Social Security number; if that information is not available, the system tries to match based on first name, last name and birth date.
  • Status history sync: Pending case status history records are now synchronized from the agency office to the advisor office, enabling advisors to review all past status and status date information for a case. (PMG-890981)

  • Rep number data available to external apps: External applications can now access advisor rep number data using the new RepNumAdvisor object and its properties. (PMG-886915)
  • Additional searchable requirement properties: Developers can now search on the following policy/pending case requirement and requirement history properties:

- ReqHistory.CompletedDate


- ReqHistory.FollowupDate


- ReqHistory.ReqID


- ReqHistory.StatusDate


- Requirement.FollowUpDate


- Requirement.PolicyID


- Requirement.UnderReqType



In addition, an error that was occurring when searches were run on the Requirement.RequirementSubType property was resolved. (PMG-889904)


  • Improvements to GetContactsForEmail method: The GetContactsForEmail method now returns two additional properties of the Personal object: Gender and Dob. (PMG-890038)

Resolved Issues


Inforce Policy Import

  • An interested party issue that was causing errors with inforce policy processing was resolved. (PMG-873869)
  • An issue with the processing of product names in inforce policy imports was corrected. (PMG-884955)

Investment Data Downloads

  • An issue with DST data downloads was causing security symbols in SmartOffice to change to CUSIP numbers. This issue was resolved. (PMG-878868)
  • An issue with DAZL data downloads was creating incorrect position history records to be added to active positions in SmartOffice. This issue was resolved. (PMG-884516)

Pending Case Downloads

  • When a processed HO pending case was unlinked, reprocessing the case was causing a duplicate case to be created. This issue was resolved. (PMG-883404)
  • When the pending case download method for a carrier was set to Manual Side-by-Side Processing, cases linked to that carrier were being updated as though the download method was configured as Direct Download and Replace. This issue was resolved. (PMG-886370)
  • An issue that was causing a duplicate contact to be created in SmartOffice every time a downloaded case was processed was resolved. (PMG-887487)
  • An issue that was preventing documents attached to downloaded cases from appearing in SmartOffice was resolved. (PMG-887796)
  • An issue that was causing HO pending cases to be linked to the wrong insurance product in SmartOffice was resolved. This issue was preventing users from accessing some pending cases in the system. (PMG-889649)

SmartIntegrator and SmartXchange

  • An issue that developers were encountering with SmartIntegrator's DynamicReport method was resolved. When the response included a long contact ID value, the corresponding row ID was displaying a negative value. (PMG-888723)

SmartOffice Anywhere Changes


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


Resolved Issues


  • “404 not found” errors and other navigation issues that users were encountering when using SmartOffice Anywhere were resolved. (PMG-884350)