Skip to main content

Last updated: 2025-12-03


Release Notes - SmartOffice 2022 Release 3


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.


November 23, 2022


  • Initial publication

November 30, 2022


  • Core System: Removed "View More choice applies to subsequent list pages" enhancement.

December 6, 2022


  • SmartOpportunities: Added "Opportunity direct-link merge code" enhancement (PMG-923600).

December 13, 2022


  • Release Overview: Added link to release highlights video.

Release Overview


SmartOffice 2022 Release 3 provides agencies with easier tracking of advisor Reg BI training, the ability to copy data from one policy record to another, and new options for informal pending case workflows. Release 3 also resolves issues identified in SmartOffice 2022 Release 2 and earlier releases.


For a quick overview of this release, see the release highlights video.


Enhancement Highlights


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


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


Enhancements


General

  • Count of records tagged in a list: A new Records Tagged count at the bottom of SmartOffice lists indicates the number of records the user currently has checked.

(PMG-860611)


  • Pagination of list portlets: To improve loading times for custom page layouts containing list portlets, such as Dynamic Report and note portlets, the system now displays a maximum initial number of records in these portlets (typically 50, though the number varies). To enable users to view additional records, these portlets now feature list navigation controls, including a page number drop-down list and Previous, Next and View More hyperlinks similar to those found on regular SmartOffice lists.

(PMG-880525)


  • Relabeled user rights for Office add-ins: The user rights that determine whether a user can access SmartOffice data and features from within Microsoft applications have been relabeled. On the User Rights content link of a user account, the section that used to be labeled MS Outlook Plug-In is now Microsoft Add-Ins. In addition, there are now two user rights: Outlook (formerly labeled SmartOffice Access in Outlook) and Excel.

(PMG-923527)


  • Super User option in user rights templates: A Super User check box was added to the User Rights Templates dialog box, making it easier for administrators to apply this powerful right along with other user rights when creating user accounts.

(PMG-923716)


  • Help buttons: To make help information easier for users to access, key areas of SmartOffice now display a help button that users can select to go directly to the relevant help topic. Areas of the system that currently feature this button include the home page/dashboards, activity detail and activity outcome dialog boxes, and the user rights and licenses page.

(PMG-925883)



Contact Management

  • Contact greeting in information card: The information card, which appears when users point to a contact name in lists and other areas of SmartOffice, was enhanced to display the contact's greeting name in parentheses.

(PMG-906655)


  • Automatic household address updates: When a contact is a head of household, adding an address to the contact and marking it as the preferred address now updates the household's address automatically. (PMG-911774)

Correspondence

  • Bcc column in E-mail Queue: A new Bcc column is available in the E-mail Queue message list to display all blind-copied recipients of outgoing e-mail messages, including e-mailed Dynamic Reports. Users with the appropriate rights can customize the layout of the E-mail Queue list to add the column. (PMG-889474)

Dynamic Reports

  • Custom data columns for household reports: Users can now add columns displaying contact and business custom field data to Household-category Dynamic Reports. In addition, users can add columns displaying household custom field data to Household Members-category reports. (PMG-906703)
  • Enhanced report usage statistics: When viewing the usage statistics for Dynamic Reports (Menu > Dynamic Report Usage Statistics), users with the appropriate rights can now add the following new columns to the statistics list:

- Record Count: The number of records that the report returned.


- Run Time (ms): The amount of time in milliseconds that the report took to return results.


- From Homepage: Whether the report was run from a home page tab.



(PMG-924128)



Resolved Issues


General

  • Several issues that occurred when a user added a line space to a custom portlet in a page layout were resolved:

- The contents of the portlet were disappearing. In some instances, the entire portlet was disappearing.


- The user could not rename the page layout template.


- When the user copied the page layout template, the system was displaying an error. The copy was still being created, but without the custom portlet.



(PMG-921359, PMG-923785)



Contact Management

  • Users who tried to mass assign a large number of contacts to a different primary advisor were encountering long delays before the assignment process completed. This issue was resolved. (PMG-923075)
  • In offices with office security enabled, the system was unexpectedly assigning users to the contacts they created in these instances:

- When automatic user assignment for new contacts was disabled in Office Settings > SmartPad/New Contact/E-mail Posting.


- When the user opted not to assign a user to the contact during the contact creation workflow, e.g., by dismissing the prompt to assign a user.



This issue was resolved. (PMG-923457)


  • When selecting the Menu > Business Hierarchy command for two or more business records at a time, users were being presented with duplicate business hierarchy dialog boxes. This issue was resolved. (PMG-923732)
  • In office hierarchies, parent-office users who signed in to child offices were unable to add photos to child-office contact records. This issue was resolved.  (PMG-924291)

Correspondence

  • An issue with sending correspondence from a list of Dynamic Report results was resolved. During the correspondence workflow, when the user specified a follow-up activity and selected the Track Activity Outcome option, the resulting calendar activity did not have outcome tracking enabled. (PMG-919807)
  • Selecting a large number of contacts and then selecting the Launch E-mail command was not opening a new Outlook message window. This issue was resolved. (PMG-923953)

Dynamic Reports

  • An issue with Dynamic Report FTP uploads was resolved. When the E-mail Rule Details dialog box contained entries in the Recipient Users or Recipient Contact/Businesses lists that did not have valid e-mail addresses, the report was not uploading to the specified FTP site. The system no longer performs this e-mail address check for FTP uploads. (PMG-922412)
  • An issue that occurred when users tried to export the results of certain Dynamic Reports was resolved. When a Dynamic Report was set up to allow users to change its date filters when the report was run, the process of exporting the list of results was hanging at the point where the system displayed the message "List export file is being created." (PMG-923462)

SmartCalendar


Enhancements


  • Fewer clicks when creating new Done activities: To streamline the activity creation workflow, SmartOffice no longer asks the user for confirmation when the user creates an activity and sets its status to Done. Previously, the system was unnecessarily displaying the message "Mark the current activity as Done?" and prompting the user to select OK or Cancel. (PMG-922237)

Resolved Issues


  • An issue that was preventing users from navigating from the calendar Day view to the Week view was resolved. The issue was occurring when the Tasks list on the Week view contained an alphanumeric contact custom column and the user was viewing the calendars of two or more users. (PMG-911109)
  • An issue with viewing tasks in a maximized Tasks list was resolved. The issue occurred when a user opened a task from the list, added values to fields on the task's Custom tab and saved the changes. When the user then selected the same task in the list and selected the Custom tab, the fields the user had populated were appearing blank. (PMG-921779)
  • When viewing other users' calendars, users without Super User rights were not seeing columns in the Tasks lists of the calendar Day and Week views. This issue was resolved. (PMG-925167)

SmartOpportunities


Enhancements


  • Carrier and product columns for opportunity presale list: On the opportunity Presale Activity/Proposals content link, users can now add columns containing data about the carrier and product associated with each presale activity. By accessing List Layout Customization, users with the appropriate rights can select the new Reference Carrier Basic Info and Reference Product tables to view and choose from the available columns. (PMG-922570)
  • Opportunity direct-link merge code: When generating correspondence from an opportunity record, users can insert the new OpportunityLink merge code to include a direct link to the opportunity record.  When expanded, this merge code displays a "Click Here" link that the recipient can use to navigate to the opportunity record (the recipient must be signed in to SmartOffice). (PMG-923600)
  • Pending case list for opportunity page layouts: When customizing an opportunity page layout, users can now include a list of the pending cases that are linked to the opportunity. To do so, edit the layout (Menu > Page Layout) and add the new Pending Case portlet. (PMG-923600)

Resolved Issues


  • An issue that was preventing some opportunity merge codes from expanding properly was resolved. (PMG-923600)
  • When an opportunity advanced automatically to the next stage upon completion of all current stage actions, the opportunity record was not displaying the correct participant in some instances. This issue was resolved. (PMG-925507)

SmartLeads


Resolved Issues


  • In leads, the Remarks field was ignoring line breaks and displaying all text in a single line. This issue was resolved. (PMG-924684)

Advisors/Agencies


Featured Enhancements


Best Interest Compliance Type


SmartOffice now makes it easier to track Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI) training. When creating a compliance record for an advisor or agency, users can select the new Best Interest (Training) choice from the Compliance Type drop-down list.


(PMG-921352)


Other Enhancements


  • Ability to track reason for appointment termination: A new Termination Reason drop-down field now appears in the Appointment Information dialog box when the user selects Electronic Request - Termination as the appointment's status.

The field contains no predefined choices; users with drop-down customization rights can add choices to make them available to users in the office. (PMG-923672)


  • Drop-down custom fields for advisor appointments: The AlphaNum1 and AlphaNum2 custom fields in the advisor Appointment Information dialog box have been converted from simple text fields to drop-down lists, enabling users with drop-down customization rights to define standard choices for those fields. (PMG-923721)

Resolved Issues


General

  • An issue with the Advisor Contract List section of the advisor Cont./Appt. content link was resolved. Selecting more than one advisor contract and then selecting Advanced Options > Related Commission Rates from the Options menu was displaying two instances of the message "Only the highlighted record will be processed. Continue?" (PMG-849894)
  • An issue with advisor requests created from the Advisor Request List (Insurance > Advisor Requests) was resolved. When entering the details of the request, users who added an entry to the Requirements List were finding that the requirement was not appearing in the list after it was saved. (PMG-921710)
  • An issue with sending correspondence related to an advisor request listed on the advisor/agency Request/Requirement content link was resolved. When the user opted to send e-mail correspondence to the advisor but did not specify a letter template, the system was displaying an error instead of just ending the correspondence workflow. (PMG-921908)
  • A correspondence issue affecting presale activities that were converted to pending cases was resolved. When viewing the details of a pending case from a presale activity's Pending Case content link, users were finding that the Menu > Communication > Correspondence command was either missing or not working. (PMG-921956)
  • When the Carrier Name column was added to the advisor Presale Activity/Proposals content link, users who selected the name of a carrier in that column were seeing a "failed to load object" error. This issue was resolved. (PMG-922834)
  • When a user tried to add carbon copy recipients for a large number of advisors or agencies at once, the process was hanging. This issue was resolved. (PMG-923230)
  • When used on an advisor record that was not linked to any policies, the Advisor Reassignment command was displaying a progress bar and then hanging. This issue was resolved. (PMG-923407)
  • An issue with adding advisor appointment records in offices configured to allow electronic appointment downloads was resolved. The issue occurred after the user selected a carrier and state in accordance with the configuration specified in Policy/Case Setup > Licensing/Contracting Setup > Electronic L&A Setup. When the user then set the appointment's status to Electronic Request - New or Electronic Request - Renewal and selected the Service hyperlink, the system was prompting the user to select a carrier and state. (PMG-923589)
  • After the upgrade to SmartOffice 2022 Release 2, the AML choice was no longer available from the Compliance Type drop-down list in advisor compliance records. The choice was restored. (PMG-924089)
  • On the advisor Presale Activity/Proposals tab, non-Super Users who tried to create quotes or requirements using the following commands were encountering a "Your action cannot be completed" error:

- Menu >  New 'Presale Activity/Proposal - Quick Quote' record


- Menu >  New 'Presale Activity/Proposal - Requirement' record



(PMG-925109)



Insurance Products and Carriers


Resolved Issues


  • When a user selected the Global Search option, searched for a carrier, and then viewed the carrier record, the carrier Detail content link was incorrectly displaying a business record layout, making some carrier-specific fields unavailable. This issue was resolved. (PMG-920933)
  • When a local-office user added documents to a resource-office carrier using the Link to Web Address (URL) or Link to File Location command in the Document List, the entry was being created in the resource office instead of the local office. This issue was resolved. (PMG-922411)

SmartPolicies


Featured Enhancements


Ability to Copy Data from One Policy/Case to Another

A new utility allows users to copy specific data (e.g., notes, requirements, letters) from one policy or pending case to another existing policy or case.


To access this feature, open a policy or pending case record, select Menu > Advanced Options, and then select Copy Policy Data to Existing Policy or Copy Case Data to Existing Pending Case. (PMG-903954)


Resolved Issues


  • An issue with policy Dynamic Reports was resolved. In reports sent automatically by e-mail and in analytic (Excel) reports, the report results were including deleted records. (PMG-919951)
  • An issue with changing the product on an individual or group policy was resolved. When the original product had product options and one of those options was selected for the policy, switching to a product with no product options was not clearing the previously selected options. (PMG-921659)
  • An issue affecting policies that have multiple advisors with split percentages containing decimals was resolved. In some instances, when users tried to edit the splits, the system was displaying an error message incorrectly stating that the total did not add up to 100%. (PMG-921872)
  • Several issues that occurred when custom page layouts were applied to policy and pending case records were resolved:

- On the pending case Detail content link, saving a record with a blank Policy # field was causing that field to become mandatory. In addition, when the fields under Important Contacts were customized, the Case Manager field was becoming mandatory, and the Team hyperlink was no longer working.


- On the policy Basic Information and pending case Detail content links, customizing the fields under Important Contacts was causing the File Location field to become a text field instead of a drop-down list.


- On the policy Basic Information content link, the system was allowing records to be saved with a blank Policy # field.



(PMG-923646)


  • The Pen Phase End field on the annuity policy Benefits content link was displaying with the label "PenPhsEnd" when added as a column to the Global Policy List. This issue was resolved. (PMG-924532)
  • When accessing policy notes from the contact Policies tab, users were finding that they could not forward or reply to e-mail entries. This issue was resolved. (PMG-925152)

SmartCaseManager


Featured Enhancements


Await Quote Workflow Enhancement for Informal Cases

Several options were added to the Await Quote informal case workflow (Setup > Policy/Case Setup > Informal PCM Workflows > Await Quote Workflow). These options determine what happens to a case when a requirement is added before the case's status is Quote Received. Administrators can configure automatic status updates for the case and the Await Quote requirement, or specify that the Await Quote requirement be deleted.


(PMG-921682)


Other Enhancements


  • Case creation prompt for conversions: When a user updates the status of an inforce life insurance pending case to Converted or Conversion and keeps the same policy number, SmartOffice now automatically prompts the user to create a new case. (PMG-921684)
  • Ability to dial advisors from pending cases: Customers who have configured phone system integrations with SmartOffice Pro can now dial advisors directly from pending case records. On the pending case Detail content link, under Policy Advisor List, click any number in the Full Phone column to send that number to your calling application. (Note: If this column is not visible, a user with list layout customization rights can add it.)  (PMG-923714)

Resolved Issues


  • In some instances, navigating to the Household tab of a pending case or presale activity record was causing a blank browser tab to open. This issue was resolved. (PMG-790973)
  • In pending case lists and custom page layouts, the Class column/field was displaying numerical values instead of risk class names. This issue was resolved. (PMG-895568)
  • While mass modifying the statuses of multiple pending cases at once, users were able to select statuses that administrators had excluded using the Status Exclusion settings in Policy/Case Setup > Status Setup. This issue was resolved. (PMG-903317)
  • For users of the Microsoft Plug-in for SmartOffice, an issue with creating correspondence for multiple pending cases at once was resolved. When a user opted to send e-mail to the carrier and SmartOffice prompted the user to download the correspondence file, the system was returning an error in some instances. (PMG-921873)
  • An issue with creating auto-send letters in Policy/Case Setup > Letter Setup > Pending Case Update was resolved. When the user entered the name of a correspondence template that did not exist and then selected the OK button, the system was returning an "insert/update failed" error. (PMG-921958)
  • The system was allowing users to delete pending cases that contained subaccounts. This issue was resolved. SmartOffice now informs the user that the subaccounts must be deleted first. (PMG-921989)
  • Users with the SmartCaseManager license did not have access to the Menu > Advanced Options > Case Manager Reassignment command. This issue was resolved. (PMG-923968)

SmartBenefits


Resolved Issues


  • An issue with group policy Dynamic Reports was resolved. The issue affected reports in the Group Plans and Members category that contained the Plan Name column. When users selected a first-column hyperlink to view a group plan's details and then selected the List content link, they were seeing a different plan listed. (PMG-921711)
  • Several issues with group policy records were resolved:

- On the group plan Premium/Custom sub-content link in group life policies, selecting the Maximize or Check Spelling button under Remarks was causing the button to disappear.


- On the group plan General Life and Members sub-content links in group life policies, the New 'Group Plan Policy' Record command was available in the Menu button when it should not have been. The command was removed.


- On the group plan Contribution Plan sub-content link in group retirement policies, the New 'Group Plan Options' command available from the Options button was doing nothing when selected.



(PMG-921717)


  • When a user cleared the Carrier field of a group policy record and then selected the Product Name hyperlink, the Search Group Products dialog box was not allowing the user to enter search criteria for a new product. This issue was resolved. (PMG-922936)

SmartWholesaler


Resolved Issues


  • Two page layout issues with producer and firm records were resolved:

- When the layout of the producer Personal or Add'l Detail content link was customized and fields in the Personal Information portlet were rearranged, the Supervisor field hyperlink was no longer working.


- When the layout of the firm Add'l Detail content link was customized, the Case Manager field label was no longer hyperlinked.



(PMG-894861)


  • When creating producer or firm records, users who specified a letter in the Send Letter field and then saved the new record were seeing duplicate Send Thank You Letter dialog boxes. This issue was resolved. (PMG-922171)

SmartCommissions


Resolved Issues


General

  • An issue with the Edit Commission Rates feature was resolved. When the spreadsheet layout contained the Carrier Name column and a carrier name contained a comma, users who tried to save their changes were seeing an error. (PMG-817074)
  • When a user removed a supervisor contract using the Contract Change Utility and then saved the change, the system was repopulating the supervisor contract. This issue was resolved. (PMG-920911)
  • An issue that occurred when multiple commission rates were defined for a product was resolved. When one rate was defined for all states and another was defined for a specific state, new policies added for the specific state were sometimes being automatically linked to the all-states rate instead of the state-specific rate. The system now prioritizes the state-specific rate in these instances. (PMG-921960)
  • Users who tried to add columns from the Product Custom table to the Commission Rates List were encountering a "failed to load object" error when they applied the changes. This issue was resolved. (PMG-922934)

SmartInvestments


Resolved Issues


Investment Accounts

  • While viewing the list of results from a contact/business search, users who selected the Menu > List Matching Unlinked Accounts command for multiple records at once were seeing duplicate account selection dialog boxes. This issue was resolved. (PMG-922372)

Integrations and Data Services


Enhancements


General

  • Integration sign-in code generator: For users who do not access SmartOffice using a user name and password, SmartOffice can now generate sign-in codes for use in registering certain integrations. Go to Setup > Integration Sign-in Code to generate a code for a specific integration, such as Cisco Webex or Zoom.

Then, during integration setup, select the I don't access SmartOffice with a user name and password link when you are prompted to enter SmartOffice credentials. (PMG-911077)


  • Updated Docupace menu options: For Docupace integration users, the Docupace Starting Point command under Menu > Integrations was renamed Docupace Quick Start to match the new name of Docupace's client onboarding solution. In addition, the icons for that command and the Docupace Client Folder command have been updated.

(PMG-922873)



Pending Case Downloads

  • Option to reprocess modified HO pending cases immediately: When users with the appropriate rights modify HO pending cases that failed to process, selecting the Menu > Reprocess Modified Data command now reprocesses these cases immediately. Previously, selecting that command did not reprocess those cases until the next time automated HO pending case downloads/processing occurred. Users who prefer to delay reprocessing until the next automated HO pending case download/processing cycle can select the Menu > Reprocess command for the modified case from the HO Pending Case List. (PMG-922068, PMG-922110)
  • Improved handling of multiple base coverages: When SmartOffice receives a downloaded pending case containing multiple base coverages, the system no longer attempts to process the case. Instead, it marks the case as canceled and logs an error indicating that multi-life coverage was found for that case. (PMG-922728)
  • Better handling for deleted HO pending case-related jobs: When an HO pending case is deleted, the system now changes the status of the corresponding HO case job to HO Case Deleted. If an HO case job is in a Waiting status when the HO pending case is deleted, the system updates the job's status to Pending so that the case will be processed during the next automatic HO pending case download/processing cycle. (PMG-923597)
  • Higher character limits for policy relationship fields: In the HO pending case policy insured and policy relationship detail dialog boxes, the First Name field's character limit was increased to 64, the Last Name field's limit was increased to 200 and the Middle Name field's limit was increased to 40. (PMG-924354)

Resolved Issues


Investment Data Downloads

  • An issue that was interfering with reconciliation of transactions from DST investment data downloads was resolved. (PMG-922315)

Pending Case Downloads

  • In the side-by-side processing dialog box, under Agency Requirements, selecting the Intra-Office E-mail command from the Options button was opening two intra-office e-mail dialog boxes. This issue was resolved. (PMG-921832)
  • Two issues on the pending case Home Office Status content link were resolved:

- Users who navigated to the Requirements or Notes sub-content links were having difficulty accessing the Menu button in some instances because the horizontal scroll bar was missing.


- While viewing the Requirements sub-content link, users who selected a requirement and then tried to create a pending case using the Add New button were being prompted to select a requirement type instead.



(PMG-921833)



SmartOffice Anywhere Changes


Enhancements


  • Improved default phone/address type selection: When users create contacts in SmartOffice Anywhere, the phone number and address types selected by default are now determined by the default phone and address types defined in SmartOffice Pro under User Preferences > Basic Info > Default Settings. (PMG-913824)

Resolved Issues


  • When editing a contact's address in SmartOffice Anywhere, users were finding that the Address Type field was blank even after the type had previously been specified. This issue was resolved. (PMG-923537)
  • In some instances, sets that a user marked as favorites were not appearing in SmartOffice Anywhere's Set List when the user set the Show My Favorites switch to Yes. This issue was resolved. (PMG-924246)