Last updated: 2025-12-03
Release Notes - SmartOffice 2021 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.
August 9, 2021
- Initial publication
August 25, 2021
- Integrations and Data Services: Added "Handling of additional AgencyWorks fields" enhancement (PMG-910205).
- Integrations and Data Services: Added solution to AgencyWorks import policy processing issue (PMG-910165).
September 1, 2021
- Release Overview: Added link to release highlights video.
September 27, 2021
- Core System: Added "User preference for opening files without the plug-in" enhancement (PMG-908554).
- Core System: Added solution for error when applying page layouts (PMG-886036).
- Core System: Added solution for browser-based list export issue (PMG-906831).
- Core System: Added solution for error with sets whose names contain special characters (PMG-907631).
Release Overview
SmartOffice 2021 Release 2 provides agencies with useful new features to better track advisor contributions on policies, call out key underwriting and other requirements, and add multiple contracts to advisor records quickly. This release also resolves issues identified in SmartOffice 2021 Release 1 and earlier releases.
For a quick overview of this release, see our 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.
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
User Preference for Opening Files Without the Plug-In
A new user preference allows users to access documents and other files in SmartOffice without the Microsoft Plug-in for SmartOffice. In User Preferences > Correspondence Options, select the Browser option under the new File Opening Method section.
When the user tries to open a file, the file downloads to the user's device through the web browser, and the user can then open it manually. For more information, see User Preferences - Correspondence Options. (PMG-908554)
Other Enhancements
Filters
- New date range option for filters: When filtering on date columns, users have a new choice available under the Popular Date Ranges option: All Days in Past + Today.
Note that the existing All Days in Past option remains available for those instances when the user does not want to include the current date. (PMG-907261)
Resolved Issues
General
- When no office hierarchy was set up in SmartOffice, users who tried to apply a page layout using the Apply changes to all users in the office hierarchy option were encountering an error. This issue was resolved. (PMG-886036)
- On the Custom Template Summary list, the Content Link and Record Type columns were not displaying data. As a result, users could not quickly determine which content link and record type a custom page layout was applied to. This issue was resolved. (PMG-903121)
- Applying a custom page template to the contact Add'l Personal content link using the Apply template to all users in office option was not working. Other users in the office were not seeing the new template. This issue was resolved. (PMG-903122)
Contact Management
- When an administrator imported a contact that had been created previously by a non-admin user, SmartOffice was updating the contact to add the admin user to the contact's User Assignment List. This issue was resolved. (PMG-902632)
- Users with no household-related user rights were still being presented with the option to create a household when they added Family-type key relations to contacts. This issue was resolved. (PMG-907053)
- Adding certain special characters to the name of a set or filter was causing a "failed to load object" error when the record was saved. This issue was resolved. (PMG-907631)
Data Import/Export
- An issue affecting browser-based list export was resolved. In some instances, users were unable to export the results of an Advisor Commission-category Dynamic Report when the report contained a filter on the Percentage(%) column. (PMG-906831)
Dynamic Reports
- The new Dynamic Report Setup wizard is no longer enabled by default for new SmartOffice user accounts. All users who want to switch to the new wizard must now enable it in User Preferences > Basic Info. (PMG-906367)
SmartCalendar
Resolved Issues
- An issue with the Add Important Dates to the Calendar feature was resolved. Selecting the Create participant(s) from the User Assignment of Task's linked Contact option was not adding the participants to the activities in some instances. (PMG-891517)
Advisors/Agencies
Resolved Issues
- Users were encountering an error when they accessed the customized Personal content link of an advisor record. This issue was resolved. (PMG-907035)
- On the advisor Cont./Appt. content link, users who added the Created By column to the Advisor Contract List were seeing a different record count in some instances. This issue was resolved. (PMG-907046)
- Two issues affecting the agency Key Relations content link were resolved:
- Users were unable to delete business hierarchy records.
- When users selected the New 'Business Relationship' Record command to add a business hierarchy record, SmartOffice was opening the Search Contacts and Businesses dialog box instead of prompting them to enter the key relation's details.
(PMG-907182)
SmartPolicies
Featured Enhancements
Advisor Contribution % Field
SmartOffice users can now track how much effort an advisor contributed to a policy sale separately from the commission split percentage the advisor receives. On the policy Basic Information or pending case Detail content link, under Policy Advisor List, open an advisor record to access the new Contribution % field.
The field can also be added as a column to policy and pending case lists and Dynamic Reports. (PMG-907463)
Resolved Issues
- An issue that occurred when users created variable life policies was resolved. If the advisor had a contract for the Life line of business, SmartOffice was automatically selecting that contract, even though variable products require a Life-Variable contract. Now, if the advisor does not have a Life-Variable contract, the system displays a message indicating that. (PMG-894397, PMG-894398)
- Drop-down list choices added to alphanumeric and lookup fields on the carrier, product, rider and group product custom content links were appearing on the contact Custom content link, and vice versa. This issue was resolved. (PMG-903836)
SmartCaseManager
Featured Enhancements
Ability to Indicate Key Requirements
A new Key Requirement option on the policy/pending case requirement detail dialog box enables users to highlight particular requirements as being important.
These requirements appear in bold on requirement lists to indicate their significance. (PMG-893398)
Resolved Issues
- An issue with modifying requirements in Setup > Policy/Case Setup > Requirements was resolved. Text copied from a web page, e-mail, or Word document and pasted into a requirement's Description field was displaying HTML tags or other special formatting characters. This was occurring even when the user selected Yes when the system offered to convert the text into plain text. (PMG-904212)
- Users were able to modify pending case notes when Protect Communication History was enabled in the office. This issue was resolved. (PMG-904693)
- An issue that occurred when a presale activity was converted to a pending case was resolved. When users accessed the new pending case from the presale activity Pending Case content link, the Integrations option was missing from the Menu. (PMG-906004)
- On the Pending Case List, the Menu > Communication > E-mail Case Manager command was not working and was removed. Users can still contact their case managers using SmartOffice's standard correspondence feature. (PMG-906500)
- The system was allowing underwriting and POS requirements to be saved after a user deleted the contents of the Insured Contact field, which was causing these requirements to disappear. This issue was resolved. The requirement detail dialog box now prompts the user to enter an insured contact before the record can be saved. (PMG-907547)
- In a pending case, when a user updated the completed date for multiple requirements at the same time using the Change Date/Status command, the follow-up date was not being deleted from the selected requirements. This issue was resolved. (PMG-907765)
- A non-functional custom field at the bottom of the underwriting requirement detail dialog box was removed. (PMG-908097)
SmartBenefits
Enhancements
- Improved group policy creation workflow: When a user creates a group policy for a business, SmartOffice now automatically adds the business to the Policy Relationship List and assigns it the Payor and Owner roles. (PMG-903488)
Resolved Issues
- An issue with Dynamic Reports in the Group Plans and Members category was resolved. There was no way for users to display the business name associated with the policy in these reports. To resolve this issue, SmartOffice now provides access to the Business Name column in the Holding > Policy Contact table. In addition, the Policy Business table is now available under the Policy Contact table, enabling users to add columns displaying additional data about the business. (PMG-903486)
- Several issues with creating group plan categories were resolved:
- In the New Group Category Setup Detail dialog box, users were unable to add group sub-categories because the New 'Group Sub-Category Setup' Record command was missing from the New Group Sub-Category Setup List.
- After the new group plan category was saved, users who navigated to that category's content link from the Group Plan List were seeing two non-functioning commands in the Options menu that were displaying errors when selected. These commands were removed.
(PMG-908093)
SmartCommissions
Featured Enhancements
Contract Templates
and choose Apply Contract Template. Learn more. (PMG-908091)
Resolved Issues
General
- On the advisor Commission content link, adjustments due to be paid on the current date (or on a future date within the current month) were not displaying in some instances when the Date Range filter was set to Current Month or Current Year. This issue was resolved. (PMG-896358)
- Users who have the CTM Processing user right were encountering an error message when they tried to modify commission rates. This issue was resolved. (PMG-904123)
- SmartOffice was not indicating the first commission properly for policies containing no policy date. This issue was resolved. For these policies, when the expected due date of a commission transaction is the same as the current date, the system now automatically selects the First Commission option on that transaction. (PMG-909311)
Batch Processing
- An issue that occurred when users processed commission batches was resolved. SmartOffice was displaying a blank Advisor & Agency List if the Created By column from the Advisor Basic Info table was part of the list layout. (PMG-905747)
Speed Receipts
- In speed receipts, when a user accepted a non-Active transaction as an adjustment, the record was being created as a projected transaction instead of an expected transaction. This was making it impossible to link the transaction to a carrier posting. This issue was resolved. (PMG-906427)
Integrations and Data Services
Enhancements
Inforce Policy Import
- Handling of additional AgencyWorks fields: The AgencyWorks policy import into SmartOffice was enhanced to ignore any additional fields in the source file if they are not mapped to SmartOffice fields. (PMG-910205)
Investment Data Downloads
- Improved processing of missing account names for Broadridge: When account name information is not available in a Broadridge data download, SmartOffice now uses the custodian description and account number as the account name. (PMG-907050)
Pending Case Downloads
- Improved carrier matching: The process for matching carriers during Direct Download and Replace processing was enhanced. When the carrier code received in the pending case download matches multiple carriers in SmartOffice, SmartOffice now tries to match the carrier based on its associated product codes. (PMG-908349)
Resolved Issues
Inforce Policy Import
- An issue with the AgencyWorks policy import into SmartOffice that was causing errors during the policy processing stage was resolved. (PMG-910165)
Pending Case Downloads
- An issue that was causing HO pending cases to become stuck at the Processing to Stage stage was resolved. (PMG-904344)
- An issue with updating advisor information during the Direct Download and Replace process was resolved. SmartOffice was refreshing the values in the advisor Region Code, Office Code and Marketing Manager fields when no change to the advisor was made. (PMG-909303)
SmartOffice Anywhere Changes
Resolved Issues
- An issue was occurring when a signed-in user navigated to the sign-in page without first signing out. When the user then signed in to another office, the app was behaving as though the user was still signed in to the first office, displaying dashboard labels and other content from the first office. This issue was resolved. (PMG-907223)