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Last updated: 2025-12-03


Release Notes - SmartOffice 2024 Release 1


About This Document


For general information about SmartOffice release notes, visit the Release Notes home page.


Revision History


These release notes may be revised after their initial publication. This section lists the dates of any revisions as well as a list of changes.


April 9, 2024


  • Initial publication

April 11, 2024


  • Release Overview: Added Enhancement Highlights section.
  • Advisors/Agencies: Corrected description for "Advisor document upload for requirements" enhancement (PMG-937955).

April 12, 2024


  • Core System: Added solution to merge code expansion issue (PMG-937413).
  • SmartCommissions: Added solution to Advisor Commission Check List export issue (PMG-937104).
  • SmartPolicies: Added solution for Policy-category Dynamic Report table issue (PMG-939228).

April 15, 2024


  • Integrations and Data Services: Added "API access to commission rate paid mode" enhancement (PMG-938336).
  • Integrations and Data Services: Added "Access to activity Web Meeting field through API" enhancement (PMG-939138).
  • Minor text and formatting changes.

April 24, 2024


  • SmartCommissions: Corrected description for "Expected commission export" enhancement (PMG-934204).
  • Core System: Revised description for "Data Import Wizard improvements" enhancement (PMG-938005).

May 14, 2024


  • Release Overview: Added link to enhancement highlights video.
  • SmartEvents: Added "Event activity enhancements" enhancement (PMG-938815).

July 18, 2024


  • SmartOffice Anywhere: Corrected description of buttons removed (PMG-935964, PMG-937383).

Release Overview


SmartOffice 2024 Release 1 features additional flexibility in how users can import data and includes the ability to recover deleted SmartPad entries. For agency customers, this release enables advisor document uploads through SmartView for Advisors, the ability to define office/agency requirements for group pending cases, and exports of policy expected commissions to Excel and other formats. Release 1 also resolves issues identified in SmartOffice 2023 Release 3 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.


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


Data Import Wizard Improvements

The Data Import Wizard was enhanced to provide more flexibility in how records are matched an updated. While creating an import setup, users can now choose whether to insert all imported records without matching, update only matching records, or insert new and update existing records.



In addition, users now have a choice between using SmartOffice's default record-matching algorithm and creating their own algorithm.



Another new feature for contact imports in the ability to assign a primary advisor to the imported contacts. For more information about all of these changes, see Data Import - Import Process. (PMG-938005)


Ability to Recover Deleted SmartPad Entries

In offices that allow the deletion of SmartPad entries, users with administrator rights can now restore those entries. The Utilities > Deleted Records area of the system has been enhanced to enable users to search for and recover deleted SmartPad entries by date as well as content.



This enhancement applies to the contact SmartPad as well as opportunity, policy, pending case and other record notes. (PMG-900632)


Other Enhancements


Correspondence

  • Merge code for license issue date: In contact correspondence, users can now insert the driver license issue date using the new «F\_PE\_DLISSUEDATE» merge code. (PMG-934680)

Resolved Issues


General

  • On the Global Proxy content link in Office Settings, when the list was displayed using the Tree layout, users had to select the Expand All button twice before it worked. In addition, when the user then pointed to the Collapse All button, they were seeing an "Expand All" ToolTip. (PMG-876132)
  • When customizing the columns in certain list layouts, users were seeing a duplicate instance of the Gender column under the Personal table. This issue was resolved. (PMG-935094)
  • An issue with the See Data For feature was resolved. In the See Specific Users' Data dialog box, selecting Data for specific users and applying a column filter to the User Full Name column was reselecting the All records option, forcing the user to reselect Data for specific users. (PMG-935369)
  • Two issues related to file posting were resolved:

- When a user's File Opening, File Posting and Correspondence Method settings in User Preferences > Correspondence Options were set to the same setting (Plug-in or Browser), the file size displayed in the file posting dialog box was slightly higher than the actual size of the file.


- When the same user preferences were all set to Browser, selecting the Compress the Files into a single zip file option in the file posting dialog box was not reducing the size of the posted file.



(PMG-936962)


  • Calculated columns were displaying incorrect results when calculating column values that exceeded 9,999,999.99. This issue was resolved. (PMG-938081)

Alert Center

  • An issue that was causing the Alert Center button to display an incorrect number of alerts was resolved. (PMG-936246)

Contact Management

  • Two issues with Know Your Client (KYC) features were resolved:

- When attempting to add fields to a KYC template, users were finding that fields from the KYC\_CUSTOM table were not available.


- In some instances, users were encountering an "insert/update failed" error when they tried to delete a group in a KYC template without first saving the template.



(PMG-933288)


  • On the Letters/Documents content link of contact and other records, users who displayed the Letter Log and Document List in a combined list were encountering errors when they tried to print the list. This issue was resolved. (PMG-937815)
  • On the business Key Relations content link, sorting the Business Hierarchy list by a custom field was resulting in a "failed to load object" error. This issue was resolved. (PMG-938334)
  • An issue that was causing custom field labels to display incorrectly on the contact Custom content link and in the Page Layout Customization dialog box was resolved. (PMG-939648)

Correspondence

  • An issue was occurring after a user selected Menu > Add to Office Favorites (All Users) for a correspondence template. When the user then tried to remove the template from favorites, the system was displaying a blank message box. This issue was resolved. (PMG-937034)
  • An issue that was causing long delays between the time outgoing e-mails were queued and when they were sent was resolved. (PMG-937345)
  • The merge codes under the Compliance, Continuing Education and License categories were not expanding properly when included in correspondence templates. Because field codes are already available for inserting the same fields into correspondence, those categories were removed. (PMG-937413)
  • When a user's account was configured to send browser-based correspondence, an issue with dropping a contact into a marketing campaign was occurring. When the campaign was set up with handling options to send correspondence, the system was displaying prompts for plug-in based correspondence. This issue was resolved. (PMG-939373)

Data Import/Export

  • Browser-based list exports were failing when users tried to export contact lists containing the Primary Advisor column and more than 500 contact records linked to the same primary advisor. The issue, which was occurring when the list was grouped by the Primary Advisor column, was resolved. (PMG-936123)

Dynamic Reports

  • An issue with Activities for Contacts/Businesses-category Dynamic Reports was resolved. While viewing the results of a report, users who tried to apply an advanced "does not contain" filter to the Subject column were unable to enter text in the field when they clicked inside the field. (PMG-821043)

PDF Reports

  • Text issues affecting some PDF reports were resolved:

- Quotation marks in contact names were appearing as ".


- When a contact's name contained a hyphen, the first letter after the hyphen was being capitalized automatically.


- When a contact's name contained an apostrophe, running the report was producing a "Failed to load PDF document" error.


- For pie charts, total amounts were missing commas.



(PMG-938043)



Sets

  • Two issues with the Menu > Add to Office Favorites (All Users) command on the Set List were resolved:

  • When the user selected the Show My Favorites option at the top of the list and selected Menu > Remove from Favorites, the command was not working. That command now removes the set from all users' favorites. (PMG-876318)
  • When a user added the same set to office favorites more than once, the set was appearing multiple times when the user selected the Set List's Show My Favorites option. (PMG-937033)

  • Performance issues affecting set validation were resolved. (PMG-935085)

SmartCalendar


Enhancements


  • Activity ID column: An Activity ID column is now available on activity lists throughout the system, including the Activity Log, Tasks lists, calendar Agenda view and Dynamic Reports. Users with the appropriate user rights can customize their list columns to add it. (PMG-938079)
  • Ability to hide contact notification option in activities: For users of SmartOffice's enterprise Exchange sync solution, administrators can now prevent the Notify contacts when activity is created/changed option from appearing in the Participants section of the Activity Detail dialog box, regardless of whether users are set up for sync. To hide that option, set the new element in the server config.xml file to false. (PMG-938882)

SmartLeads


Enhancements


  • New fields for leads: Two new fields are available on the Detail content link of lead records:

- Best Time to Call: This field was added to contact, business and advisor leads.


- Occupation: This field was added to contact leads.



(PMG-937064)



Resolved Issues


  • An issue was occurring when a leads coordinator assigned a lead with a status of Created from a leads Dynamic Report. When the coordinator then selected Menu > Show My Leads, the same report results were reloading. This issue was resolved. (PMG-933117)

SmartOpportunities


Resolved Issues


  • E-mail messages sent as part of an opportunity stage action did not contain subject lines. This issue was resolved. (PMG-939221)

SmartEvents


Enhancements


  • Event activity enhancements: Several improvements were made to event-related activity management:

  • On the event Activities content link, users can now assign contacts to one or more activities using the new Assign Contact to Activity command in the Options base_button_options menu.
  • Users can now delete event activities from the event Activities content link using the new Delete ‘Activity’ Record command in the Options base_button_options menu.
  • In Event Setup, new tasks now have a default task type of Meeting and a default priority of High.
  • The system no longer classifies event activities as system-generated.

(PMG-938815)


SmartRecruiting


Resolved Issues


  • Candidates imported into SmartOffice were not being assigned the default position specified in Recruiting Setup. This issue was resolved. (PMG-936174)

Advisors/Agencies


Featured Enhancements


Advisor Document Upload for Requirements


SmartView for Advisors - SmartOffice Format user accounts can now be configured to allow advisors to upload documents related to pending case requirements. This enhancement is useful for situations in which a document needs to be completed by the advisor. The advisor can download the document, have it filled out, and then upload it to the requirement record.


To enable this capability, select the Allow SmartView for Advisors users to upload documents option under Setup > Policy/Case Setup > Advisor Communication > Advisor Privacy or under Setup > SmartView for Advisor Setup > PCM/Policy Setup.



Once the option is enabled, a PCM Document field will appear in pending case requirement records. Advisors will also see an Upload PCM Document button.



After downloading the document from the Documents field, the advisor completes it and then selects the Upload PCM Document button to upload it. The uploaded document appears in the PCM Document field, where it can be accessed by the case manager. (PMG-937955)


Resolved Issues


General

  • An issue that was preventing users from saving their selections in the Product License Type field of advisor appointment records was resolved. (PMG-934874)
  • On the advisor Key Relations content link, users were encountering an issue when adding policy contacts. If a user selected an advisor role from the Contract Role drop-down list (e.g., Old Primary Advisor, Referral Advisor) and then tried to add a record under the Selected LOB section, two LOB dialog boxes were opening. This issue was resolved. (PMG-936705)

Insurance Products and Carriers


Resolved Issues


  • When adding a product from the carrier Products tab, users who entered the name of an existing product and saved the record were finding that the product was being created without a name. In addition, refreshing the page after creating such a record was returning an "insert/update failed" error. These issues were resolved. (PMG-937454)

SmartPolicies


Enhancements


  • Ability to resize policy detail dialog box: When a policy record's details open in a dialog box, the system now allows the user to resize the dialog box. This enhancement makes policy information more readable in offices that heavily customize the policy Basic Information content link. (PMG-921118)
  • Stage change for Replaced status: The Replaced policy status is now linked to the Inactive stage (previously, it was linked to the Active stage). (PMG-938130)

Resolved Issues


  • An issue with Policy-category Dynamic Reports was resolved. In some instances, including columns from the Interested Party table was causing problems with calculated columns. To resolve this issue, columns from the Interested Party table are no longer available for that report category. (PMG-939228)

SmartCaseManager


Resolved Issues


  • In some instances, the following issues were occurring when users tried to access parent informal pending case information:

- Selecting the Formal Application content link was producing the error "The requested record or page cannot be displayed."


- Selecting any content link was displaying the message "Tag one record first."


- Selecting the Detail content link was displaying child case details.



(PMG-935818)


  • Issues with pending cases created from presale activities were resolved:

- Selecting the Underwritten Amt link on the pending case Detail content link was producing a "failed to load object" error.


- In informal cases, the child case's Policy Advisor List was incorrectly displaying multiple advisor entries with different policy numbers and split percentages.



(PMG-935819)


  • Users were encountering the error "Missing primary keys in URL" when they tried to add an E&O compliance status record during the pending case creation workflow. This issue was resolved. (PMG-935820)
  • While creating an annuity pending case, users who added a risk class and then selected the new risk class to view it were encountering a "failed to load object" error. This issue was resolved. (PMG-935872)
  • An issue with editing records in Policy/Case Setup under Licensing/Contracting Setup > Product License Types was resolved. Users who edited a record and then tried to save it with no state or LOB options selected were not being prompted to make those required selections. (PMG-936681)
  • In pending case Dynamic Reports, an issue that was causing the Proposed Class and Issued Class columns to display numeric values instead of risk class names was resolved. The issue was occurring for cases linked to resource-office carriers. (PMG-936683)
  • On the pending case Policy Transactions content link, adding a record to the Commissionable Premium Payment Transaction List was causing the information at the bottom of the list (Records Shown, Total Records and Records Tagged) to disappear. This issue was resolved. (PMG-937956)
  • In new pending case requirement records, the toolbar icons in the Remarks section were misaligned. This issue was resolved. (PMG-938365)

SmartBenefits


Featured Enhancements


Office/Agency Requirements for Group Cases

Users can now create office/agency requirements for group pending cases using new settings available at the carrier and group product levels.


On the carrier Underwriting Guidelines and Notes content link, when adding a record under Office/Agency Requirements, users can select the new For Group Policy option. This option displays group-specific options in the LOB drop-down list.



Also, in group product records, a new Office/Agency Requirements content link enables users to define product-specific office/agency requirements that override those defined in the carrier record. (PMG-932318)


Other Enhancements


  • Changes for mandatory group policy numbers: The Policy # field is now mandatory only for group policies/pending cases in the Active or Inactive stage. Group policies/pending case records in all other stages can now be saved without a policy number. (PMG-937140)

Resolved Issues


  • Custom data associated with a group policy was not being deleted when the policy itself was permanently deleted. This issue was resolved. (PMG-936893)

SmartCommissions


Featured Enhancements


Expected Commission Export

Users can now export the expected commissions for a policy or group policy to Excel, CSV, XML or tab-separated format. While viewing the Expected Commission List (Menu > List Commission Records), select Menu > List Options > Export List. Learn more about list export. (PMG-934204)


Other Enhancements


General

  • Updated commission statement format: In the Generic Statement #4 commission statement format, the RIA Override column was renamed Agency Override to make the format usable by more SmartOffice customers. (PMG-938668)

Resolved Issues


General

  • The SmartCommissions for Advisors module was calculating policy commissions based on the annualized premium instead of the annual premium with the modal factor. This issue was resolved. (PMG-937223)
  • From the Deleted Records area, when a user tried to permanently delete a policy that had processed or reconciled commission records, the error that SmartOffice was returning was not appearing in the Error Log. This issue was resolved. (PMG-937375)
  • On the advisor Commission content link, users who added records to the Advisor Payment List were finding that the toolbar icons in the Remarks section were not properly aligned. This issue was resolved. (PMG-938137)

Batch Processing

  • An issue that was preventing users from opening PDF commission statements in batch processing records was resolved. (PMG-936058)
  • An issue with exporting the Advisor Commission Check List was resolved. The record count and total check amount shown in SmartOffice Pro were different from the record count and total check amount shown in the export file. This issue was occurring when the list contained more than 500 checks. (PMG-937104)

SmartInvestments


Resolved Issues


Investment Accounts

  • After using the Advisor Reassignment feature, users were finding that the new advisor's name was not appearing in the Advisor Relationship List of reassigned investment accounts. This issue was resolved. (PMG-936208)

Integrations and Data Services


Enhancements


Investment Data Downloads

  • Concourse advisor downloads: Advisor-related data downloads from Concourse Securities (formerly ProEquities) are now available in SmartOffice. The data includes broker-dealer, license, compliance and key relation information. (PMG-936639)

SmartIntegrator and SmartXchange

  • API access to commission rate paid mode: Developers creating commission-related integrations can now access the Paid Mode field in SmartOffice commission rate records using the PaidMode property of the CommRate object. (PMG-938336)
  • Access to activity Web Meeting field through API: Developers using the SmartIntegrator API can now access the Web Meeting drop-down list in the Activity Detail dialog box through the new, searchable Activity.ActivityWebMeetingClients property. (PMG-939138)
  • Simplified data dictionary access: Documentation of all objects and methods accessible via the SmartIntegrator API is now available from a new Setup > API Dictionary option in the SmartOffice side menu. Formerly known as the Data Dictionary, the API Dictionary is available only to users who have SmartOffice administrator rights. (PMG-939261)

Resolved Issues


Pending Case Downloads

  • A processing issue affecting primary beneficiary information in pending case downloads was resolved. (PMG-936046)

SmartOffice Anywhere Changes


Resolved Issues


  • Users who accessed Settings in SmartOffice Anywhere were finding that their user information was not displaying. This issue was resolved. (PMG-936747)
  • While using SmartOffice Anywhere on iOS devices, users were encountering an issue when they tried to add an activity action to an opportunity. Selecting View More on the Activity Details screen was pushing the Save button off the screen, making it inaccessible. This issue was resolved. (PMG-937007)
  • Buttons for accessing integrations were removed from the group policy detail screen and the investment positions list to restore consistency with SmartOffice Pro. (PMG-935964, PMG-937383)
  • When a user entered and saved an unformatted Mobile-type phone number in SmartOffice Anywhere, the system was not automatically formatting the number as it does with Business, Residence, and other number types. This issue was resolved. (PMG-938337)