Release Notes - SmartOffice Pro Canadian Edition 11.1.10

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.

October 7, 2021

• Initial publication.

Enhancement Highlights

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

Core System

• Browser-based correspondence

• Redesigned Dynamic Report Setup wizard

• User preference for opening files without the plug-in

• SmartOffice Secure

• Browser-based analytic (Excel) reports

• Page layout customization enhancements

• Ability to copy filter criteria

• Automatic Dynamic Report FTP upload

• Option to show unmasked SINs in PDF reports

• Age information in key relations column

• Setting to ignore small e-mail attachments

• Unlimited grouping levels in charts

• Improved dialog box size for high-resolution displays

• KB/MB file size columns for documents

• User-level default opportunity sales process

• Mass modification of opportunity custom fields

• Higher character limit for opportunity remarks

Agency Management

• Ability to edit Carbon Copy List for multiple advisors/agencies

• Advisor contribution % field

• Expanded requirements view in pending cases

• Modal premium update without annual premium calculation

• Option to hide case IDs from e-mail subject lines

• Credit card details in APS requirements

• Ability to choose different sender address for policy/pending case correspondence

• New requirement type for health records

• Ability to change the insured on a requirement

• Ability to indicate key requirements

• More pending case custom fields

• Ability to retain historical group plan data

• Mass projection improvements

• Contract templates

• Carrier Direct column in Advisor Payment List

Integrations and Data Services

• IP telephony integration

• Add-ins for Outlook 365 and Excel 365

System Requirements

There are no other 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

Browser-Based Correspondence

Users now have the option to create, send and view correspondence completely within the web browser, without using Microsoft Word and the Microsoft Plug-in for SmartOffice. With this new method, correspondence workflows work the same as they currently do, but SmartOffice opens a browser-based editor instead of opening Word or Outlook. The Ebix Editor looks and works much like Word, with support for SmartOffice correspondence templates, merge codes, headers and footers.

To enable browser based correspondence, go to User Preferences > Correspondence Options. Then, under Correspondence Method, select Browser. For additional help, see Ebix Editor.

Note: On  non-Windows devices, SmartOffice now automatically uses browser-based correspondence, even when current office settings or user preferences specify that the plug-in be used.

 (PMG-773188, PMG-751027, PMG-803302, PMG-815964, PMG-822006, PMG-831844)

Redesigned Dynamic Report Setup Wizard

SmartOffice Pro now features a new setup wizard for Dynamic Reports that has been reorganized to make report creation more intuitive. Improvements include easier column search, grouping of filter and layout options on one screen, and a real-time preview with drag-and-drop column arrangement.

Note: The improved report wizard is enabled by default for newly created SmartOffice user accounts. Existing users can turn it on by going to User Preferences - Basic Info and selecting the Enable new Dynamic Report Setup wizard option.

For detailed information about the new wizard, see Dynamic Reports - Report Setup. (PMG-858120)

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)

SmartOffice Secure

For home offices, SmartOffice Secure adds an extra layer of defense to SmartOffice's existing cybersecurity protections by safeguarding the devices that advisors use to access SmartOffice. When advisors sign in, this new add-on service scans their devices to identify weaknesses that cyber criminals can exploit (e.g., unpatched software and inadequate malware protection) and offers options for resolving those issues.

SmartOffice Secure also maintains a device security audit trail that can be used to demonstrate compliance with cybersecurity regulations. For pricing and other details, contact your SmartOffice sales representative. (PMG-858233)

Browser-Based Analytic (Excel) Reports

The process for generating analytic (Excel) reports-reports---introduction) has been revamped. When users run these reports, SmartOffice now creates them on the server by default and delivers them to user's browser as Excel (.xlsx) file downloads. Because of this enhancement, the Microsoft Plug-in for SmartOffice is no longer required for these reports (offices can switch back to the plug-in method by going to Setup > Office Settings and selecting Plug-In under Export Method). (PMG-834130)

Page Layout Customization Enhancements

Several improvements were made to help users and administrators better manage the page layout experience:

• Better field width control in custom portlets: When modifying a custom portlet in a page layout, users can now adjust individual fields to half width or full width, enabling two-column field arrangements. This enhancement makes control over fields in custom portlets more flexible and consistent with that of predefined portlets.

(PMG-811398)

• Ability to differentiate multiple page layouts for the same record type: On the Page Layouts content link of a user account, administrators can now determine which layout templates have been applied to different content links for the same record type (for example, the contact Personal content link versus the Add'l Personal content link). To view this information, add the new Content Link column to the Custom Template Summary list.

(PMG-811409)

• Ability to assign content link names to page layouts: When editing a custom page layout, a user can now assign it a content link name using the new Content Link Name field.

When the template is applied to a record type, its content link name replaces the default content link name. In addition, to easily track the content link names of templates, users with the appropriate rights can modify the layout of the Custom Template Summary list to add the new Content Link column. (PMG-892941)

• Improved page layout management for multiple users and groups: Office administrators who have office-level page layout customization user rights can now apply page layout templates to multiple users or user groups more easily. While viewing the Custom Template Summary list, select the new Apply Template command from the Menu button or the Options menu.

Then, when prompted, select the user and/or user groups to which you want to apply the template. (PMG-892995)

Ability to Copy Filter Criteria

When creating or modifying filters (including Dynamic Report filters), users can now add filter criteria more quickly by copying existing criteria. Select one or more entries in the Filter Criteria list, and then select the new Copy Filter button.

(PMG-885633)

Automatic Dynamic Report FTP Upload

Users can now set up Dynamic Reports so that they are automatically generated and uploaded to an FTP site on a defined schedule. The options for specifying an FTP server are in the E-mail Rules Detail dialog box, accessible from the Automatic Report E-mailing step of the Dynamic Report Setup wizard.

For more information, see Dynamic Reports - Report Setup. (PMG-889902)

Option to Show Unmasked SINs in PDF Reports

Administrators can now set an option at the office level to display unmasked Social Insurance 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 default value may be different for enterprise customers; the default is controlled by 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. For more information about charts, see Lists - Charts and Gauges. (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 list export workflow on non-Windows devices: When users on non-Windows devices export lists in Excel format , the system now automatically uses browser-based list export instead of the Microsoft Plug-in for SmartOffice, which is a Windows-only feature. This new behavior applies even when current office settings or user preferences specify that the plug-in be used. (PMG-872782)

• 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)

• URL hyperlinks in certain SmartOffice fields: When users enter a web address (URL) in any free-form text input field like Remarks, Description, or the Notes field in SmartPad entries, they can now click the address to go to the specified website. (PMG-894506)

Contact Management

• Ability to create spouse records on the fly: The workflow for adding a spouse/partner to a contact record was improved. When a user clicks the Add Spouse/Partner link and searches for a spouse/partner contact that does not exist in SmartOffice, the system now asks whether the user wants to add the contact. Selecting Yes triggers workflows for adding the contact, confirming the key relation and linking the spouse to a household. (PMG-185766)

• 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)

• Non-Flash referral visualizer: The graphical Customer Referral Visualizer has been rebuilt to operate natively in the browser without requiring the Flash extension. The new visualizer differs in some ways from the Flash-based version. For more information, refer to the help topic. (PMG-879376)

• 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)

• Text option for preferred communication: Users can now indicate a contact's preference to receive communications by SMS text. On the contact Add'l Personal content link, a new Text Message option is available under Preferred Communication. The new option is also available on these content links:

- Business Add'l Detail

- Advisor Add'l Detail

- Agency Add'l Detail

- Carrier Detail

The new option can also be made the office default for new records in Office Settings - SmartPad/New Contact/E-mail Posting. (PMG-890315)

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)

• New contact merge codes: Three merge codes that expand to display data from the contact Personal content link were added for use in correspondence templates:

- F\_PE\_CITIZENSHIP displays the contents of the Citizenship field.

- F\_PE\_Tax displays the contents of the Tax field.

- F\_PE\_TotalIncome displays the contents of the Total Income field.

(PMG-892905)

• New preferred address province merge code: Users can insert the new PreferredAddressState merge code into correspondence templates to display only the province from the contact's preferred address. (PMG-895373)

Dynamic Reports

• Employee Census report category: Users can now create reports containing business employee census data. A new Employee Census report category is available in the Contacts/Businesses report family of Dynamic Reports. (PMG-340845)

• 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)

Filters

• Ability to ignore year for additional popular date ranges: When defining filters that involve date columns, users can now select the Ignore year option for most popular date ranges. Previously, the option was available for only a few popular date ranges. (PMG-847913)

• New date range option for filters: When filtering on a date column using the Popular Date Ranges option, users now have two additional date ranges to choose from:

• Previous 13 Months: This date range covers the previous 12 months plus the current month up to the current day. (PMG-896025)

• All Days in Past + Today: Unlike the existing All Days in Past option, this new option includes the current day. (PMG-907261)

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)

• Several issues with page layout customization were resolved:

• While editing a 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. (PMG-883023)

• Removing a custom field from a layout was leaving the field label in the layout until the user saved the changes. (PMG-884650)

• Users who have the Page Layout Customization - User user right were able to reset page layouts to office defaults but not SmartOffice defaults. (PMG-897310)

• Users who tried to change the layout of the contact Add'l Personal content link by selecting a choice from the Template drop-down list were finding that their choice was not being applied. (PMG-892948)

• On the household Detail content link, applying a custom page layout containing the Activity Log portlet was producing an error. (PMG-899553)

• When a contact custom page layout contained the Activity Log portlet, the portlet was not displaying all expected activities, and the label "titleActivityLogLimit" was appearing above the portlet name. (PMG-899813)

• When users tried to apply a custom page layout to the contact Add’l Personal content link, the system was applying the layout to the Personal content link instead. (PMG-904774)

• 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)

• Several issues with list layout customization were resolved:

• 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. (PMG-889591)

• While editing a list layout, users who tried to type a column name in the search box were experiencing lag, and the column list was loading slowly. (PMG-892488)

• An issue that was preventing users from permanently deleting records from the Deleted Records area of the system was resolved. (PMG-892709)

• Several issues with charts were resolved:

- In bar charts, bars were all the same color.

- Total counts were not displaying.

- Labels on the X and Y axes were missing or nor formatted correctly.

- Drilling down to different levels of data in groupings was not working properly.

- Goal charts were appearing left-aligned instead of centered.

- Percentages were not bolded.

- The data that appears when users point to a bar or line was not displaying correctly.

- Labels in bar charts were being truncated in a way that made them unintelligible.

- Goal charts were not resizing themselves appropriately when displayed in smaller home page portlets.

- Numbers were missing commas.

- Numbers in goal charts were not aligning properly.

- Colors in charts were changing unpredictably.

- Fonts were inconsistent.

(PMG-894176, PMG-894509)

• Some enterprise customers who disabled browser-based Excel list export in their server configurations were finding that the prompt to download the .sopro file to complete export workflows was not appearing for users. This issue was resolved. (PMG-898785)

• For office hierarchies, an issue with custom fields was resolved. Parent-office users who added drop-down choices to custom fields were unable to see those choices in some instances after turning Enterprise View off. This issue was resolved. (PMG-898927)

• An issue that was preventing record lists across the system from displaying completely was resolved. (PMG-900428, PMG-900429)

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)

• During an advanced contact search, entering a name in the Set field and then clicking the Set link was causing an issue. When the list of matching sets opened and the user selected a set, the list was not closing automatically. This issue was resolved. (PMG-664011)

• An issue with contacts having plus (+) signs in their names was resolved. When these contacts were entered in SmartOffice fields, the list of matching names that automatically appeared was not displaying the plus sign. (PMG-881628)

• Two issues with the way in which SmartOffice handles multi-word last names (e.g., Dutch names beginning with "van") were resolved:

• During contact creation, SmartOffice was automatically capitalizing last names, preventing users from entering last names beginning with lowercase letters. (PMG-881740)

• While editing contact records, users who entered a two-word last name in the Last Name field and then pressed the TAB key were finding that the name was being split automatically into the First Name and Last Name fields. (PMG-900508)

• 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)

• Users who customized the Personal Information and Business Information portlets in contact records were finding that some fields in those portlets were missing after a recent SmartOffice upgrade. This issue was resolved. (PMG-887071)

• An issue with the Remarks field on the contact Personal content link was resolved. The issue occurred when a user maximized the field, entered text containing HTML formatting, and then selected the Remove Format button. After saving these changes, any attempt to view an address record in the contact was resulting in an error. (PMG-890043)

• An error that was occurring when users tried to merge contacts was resolved. (PMG-890109)

• Selection of multiple records by shift-clicking in a contact list was not working when the list was sorted by the Preferred E-mail column. This issue was resolved. (PMG-892792)

• When a user linked a contact to another contact as a spouse, SmartOffice was transferring the contact's address information to the spouse record but not the phone number data. This issue was resolved. (PMG-897456)

• 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)

Correspondence

• 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-898640)

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

• 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)

• An issue with Dynamic Reports using the Summary report layout was resolved. When a report was grouped by more than one column, clicking the group hyperlinks in the results was displaying a blank dialog box.  (PMG-866548)

• Layout issues affecting Dynamic Reports that display pie charts were resolved. (PMG-881277)

• When a Dynamic Report 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)

• When users added certain Dynamic Reports to a customized business Detail content link, the reports were appearing blank. This issue was resolved. (PMG-889592)

• An issue with custom-sorted Dynamic Reports was resolved. When users selected Open Report Filter on the results page and opened the custom sort options, the selected columns were not in the correct order. (PMG-897903)

• When a user modified a report from the Dynamic Report List and saved it, the list was refreshing to display only those reports with names similar to that of the modified report. This issue was resolved. (PMG-894726)

Filters

• When a user ran a filter search and viewed the results in the Filter List, clicking View More at the bottom of the list was producing a "failed to load object" error. This issue was resolved. (PMG-900574)

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)

• An issue that was preventing websites from loading in HTML portlets on the home page was resolved. (PMG-892209)

• An issue that was preventing charts from displaying in Dynamic Report portlets on the SmartOffice home page was resolved. (PMG-893551)

SmartOffice Sync for Microsoft Exchange

• When the Exchange user name in a sync setup was updated while a regular sync operation was in progress, SmartOffice was not displaying the confirmation message stating that the sync mode would change. This issue was resolved.  (PMG-869804)

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)

• From the search box, users who selected Tools > Notes (Last 30 Days) and then selected Advanced Search were finding that selecting All as the date range was still displaying notes from the last 30 days. This issue was resolved. (PMG-893792)

• An issue that resulted in an Advice option displaying for SmartPad notes and other records was resolved. This feature is normally disabled in most SmartOffice server configurations, but SmartOffice was ignoring those server settings. (PMG-895546)

SmartCalendar

Enhancements

• Enhanced activity privacy for contacts: When a user marks a contact as Private, any activities linked to the contact are now automatically privatized. Previously, those activities had to be privatized manually to prevent other users with access to the user's calendar from seeing the activities' contact names and subject lines. (PMG-738544)

• 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)

• Tracking of activity status changes: When an activity's status is updated, SmartOffice now adds an entry to the Activity History section of the Activity Notes dialog box, enabling users to track status changes over time. (PMG-892476)

• Spouse added as dependent in some activity outcome workflows: In specific instances, when a spouse is added through the Comprehensive Activity Outcome Wizard, the spouse is now created as a dependent in SmartOffice rather than a contact. This occurs when the user selects the Obtained Permission to Keep in Touch and Fact Finder Completed/Updated outcome options in the wizard. (PMG-897317)

Resolved Issues

• In User Preferences > Activity Options, the user's choice to enable or disable call tracking was being ignored for calls made from the calendar Day task list and from home page reports. This issue was resolved. (PMG-768326)

• 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)

• Two issues with the Add Important Dates to the Calendar utility were resolved:

• When users selected the Contact DOB and Ignore Year options, entered a specific date range, and then ran the utility, the progress bar was displaying an "error processing request" message. (PMG-892090)

• 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)

• A sporadic error that users were encountering when they created activities was resolved. (PMG-900016)

• The system was not displaying options for removing record privacy from activities linked to privatized contacts. This issue was resolved. (PMG-900811)

SmartLeads

Resolved Issues

• While performing an advanced leads search, users who selected All from the Status drop-down list were seeing an empty leads list. This issue was resolved. (PMG-892212)

• Several issues with the Leads List were resolved, including misaligned columns and the inability of users to assign leads to advisors. (PMG-904900)

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 the SmartOffice Anywhere mobile app. (PMG-780671)

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)

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)

Other Enhancements

• Role filtering for advisor opportunities: On the advisor Opportunities tab, users can now filter the list to display only those opportunities in which the advisor has a specified role (e.g., primary advisor, writing advisor, etc.). To filter the list, select a choice from the new Role drop-down list. (PMG-883476)

• Add to Set command for opportunity stage history reports: When viewing the results of a Stage History-category Dynamic Report, users can select the new Menu > Add to Set command to add the contacts linked to the selected records to a set. (PMG-894214)

• Opportunity stage data in activity history reports: Columns from the Opportunity Stage table are now available for use in Activity History-category Dynamic Reports. (PMG-895344)

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)

• Time discrepancies that users were noticing in the opportunity stage history were resolved. (PMG-893908)

• An issue with activities created from opportunity stage actions was resolved. When the action setup specified a long activity description (more than 3,000 characters), the system was truncating the description in newly created activities. (PMG-897124)

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

Featured Enhancements

Ability to Edit Carbon Copy List for Multiple Advisors/Agencies

The Carbon Copy List feature can now be configured for two or more advisors or agencies at a time. On the Advisor List or Agency List, select multiple records, and then select Menu > Communication > Carbon Copy Mass Assignment/Removal. (PMG-816817)

Other Enhancements

General

• 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)

• 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)

• New option for presale status updates: Administrators can now set up SmartOffice so that the status of a presale activity is not updated when the status of the linked pending case changes. To enable this option, go to Setup > Policy/Case Setup > Follow-up > Presale Activity/Proposals and select Do Not Cross Update PCM/Proposal Status.

When enabled, this option leaves the presale activity status as Converted to Pending Case when the linked case moves to an Underwriting or Inactive stage. (PMG-875101)

• SmartPad portlet for custom agency page layouts: When customizing the layout of the agency Detail content link, users can now add the SmartPad Notes portlet to display notes linked to the agency. (PMG-890159)

• New columns for license reports: Users can now add supervisor data to license Dynamic Reports. When creating a License-category report (from the Advisor/Agency report family), select the Supervisor table to view and select the new columns. (PMG-890481)

• New advisor merge codes: Users can now pull data into correspondence from the six custom fields on the advisor Add'l Detail content link. The following new merge codes expand to display that data:

- F\_AGENT\_ALPHAKEY

- F\_AGENT\_ALPHANUM1

- F\_AGENT\_ALPHANUM2

- F\_AGENT\_ALPHANUM3

- F\_AGENT\_ALPHANUM4

- F\_AGENT\_ALPHANUM5

(PMG-891093)

• Larger license Remarks field: In advisor license records, the height of the Remarks field has been increased to enable users to view more text at a glance. (PMG-900554)

• New advisor appointment status: In advisor appointment records, a new status choice, Electronic Request - Termination, is now available. Like the existing Electronic Request status choices, this choice enables the Service field so that the user can select an available appointment data provider. (PMG-905597)

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 BN # 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)

• In presale activities for disability insurance, the Benefit section was displaying fields related to life insurance. This issue was resolved. (PMG-890284)

• 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)

• In some instances, users who tried to save new presale activities were encountering an error stating: "Result Data does not match with the data stored in SmartOffice." This issue was resolved. (PMG-892075)

• When an advisor record linked to active and disabled user accounts was linked to a pending case, the User Assignments section of the advisor record was displaying the name of the disabled user. This issue was resolved. (PMG-892270)

• An issue with agency records imported into SmartOffice or added during creation of an advisor record was resolved. These agency records were not available for selection in the Company field of contact and business records. (PMG-894567)

• In some instances, an error was occurring when an Enterprise View user created an advisor in a child office. This issue was resolved. (PMG-898051)

• In the Advisor Hierarchy dialog box, the Menu > Reload command and the help text at the top represented obsolete functionality. These items were removed. (PMG-899710)

• When enterprise administrators added choices to the advisor or agency Type drop-down list in the System office, the choices were not appearing for users in lower offices. This issue was resolved. (PMG-900670)

• 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)

Other 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)

• Referral advisor merge code: A new ReferralAdvisor merge code enables users to include policy referral advisor information in correspondence. (PMG-880350)

• New death benefit options: On the policy Benefits content link, the Death Benefit Option drop-down list has several new choices:

- 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)

• Policy date warning message: When a policy date is updated, SmartOffice now displays a warning if the new date does not fall within the effective and expiration dates of the linked product. (PMG-885282)

• Annuity enhancements: Several improvements to annuity tracking have been introduced:

- Two new annuity-specific fields, Client Account # and Commission Basis, are available on the Benefits content link. These fields are also available to be added to policy and pending case page layouts, lists and Dynamic Reports.

- In annuity product records, several choices were added to the Type drop-down list: Fixed Immediate, Indexed Variable, Market Value Adjustment and Registered Index.

- In annuity riders, the Current Amount field now accepts decimal values (previously it accepted integers only).

(PMG-891095, PMG-892210)

• Rider options in rider reports: The Rider Options column is now available for use in Rider-category policy Dynamic Reports. (PMG-892605)

• Annuity rider enhancements: Several improvements were made to the rider information located on the annuity policy Benefits content link:

- The Rider List was renamed Rider/Feature List.

- The Rider/Feature Detail dialog box now includes a new Joint option, and the character limit of the Remarks field was increased to 4,000.

(PMG-893254)

• New policy relationship roles: When adding entries to the Policy Relationship List of a policy or pending case, users can now choose from several new interested party roles:

- Administrator

- Contingent Annuitant/Insured

- Contingent Indirect Participant

- CoParticipant

- Correspondence Entity

- Coverage Insured

- Custodian for UGMA

- Decedent

- Designated Participant

- Executor

- Indirect Participant

- Insured

- Investment Advisor

- Joint Insured

- Joint Owner

- Key Contact

- Legal Guardian

- Owner/Annuitant or Insured

- Participant

- Payee

- Plan Name

- Plan Participant

- Plan Sponsor

- Power of Attorney

- Primary Beneficiary

- Registered Investment Adviser

- Successor Participant

- Tertiary Beneficiary

(PMG-894650)

• New policy merge codes: Several new merge codes are now available for use in policy correspondence:

- PlanSubType: The sub-type of the plan on a policy.

- Duration: A policy's premium duration.

- InsuredFirstNameLastName: The primary insured's first name and last name only.

- AllInsuredNames: The names of all policy insureds, separated by an ampersand (&).

(PMG-895376)

• Improved policy navigation from activities: When a user selects the View Policy link in a calendar activity, SmartOffice now displays the policy record only if the policy is in the Active or Inactive stage. If the policy is in another stage, such as Underwriting or Approved, SmartOffice displays the pending case record instead. (PMG-896204)

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)

• Several 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)

• Users who selected the Menu > Advanced Options > Copy Policy command were finding that the copy process was hanging in some instances. The issue was occurring when no contract was linked to the policy's advisor and the user tried to create the contract during the copy workflow. This issue was resolved. (PMG-892076)

• An issue that was preventing users from filtering on the policy Inception Date column or adding that column to Dynamic Reports or list layouts was resolved. (PMG-892194)

• Issues with the Proposed Class column on policy and pending case lists were resolved. In some instances, the column was displaying a numeral instead of the proposed class. In others, the column's value didn't match the value displayed on the policy or case record. (PMG-892711)

• When a Dynamic Report was set up to look for specific text in policy notes and retrieve the associated policies, SmartOffice was not always returning policies as expected. The issue was occurring when the text specified in the report filter appeared only in notes not linked to a policy's primary contact (e.g., system-generated notes). This issue was resolved. (PMG-894105)

• 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)

• When a policy's premium mode was set to Semi-Monthly, SmartOffice was incorrectly using a x6 multiplier instead of a x24 multiplier to calculate values such as annualized premium. This issue was resolved. (PMG-894935)

• Two issues with policy-related merge codes were resolved:

- The AllTrustees and Trustee merge codes were displaying nicknames.

- The NetDeathBenefit merge code was not displaying commas in benefit amounts.

(PMG-895310)

• Issues with the way in which rating information for primary insured/annuitants were being updated in policies and pending cases were resolved. (PMG-901541)

• An issue that was causing the Annual Prem field of a policy rider record to display the modal premium instead was resolved. (PMG-901542)

• 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)

Insurance Products and Carriers

Enhancements

• 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)

• 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)

• Ability to change product type: Users can now change an existing insurance product's type without restriction. SmartOffice will warn the user that doing so may change the values visible in policies and pending cases linked to the product, but the user will be able to proceed with the change. (PMG-894139)

Resolved Issues

• 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 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)

• 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)

• On the Product Settings content link, the Calculate Benefit and Calculate Cash options were available for product types other than Life and Critical Illness. This issue was resolved. (PMG-877256)

• 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)

• 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)

• Users who added a product code to a product from the Product List, were finding that the Product Code List column was not updating to display the new code. This issue was resolved. (PMG-901689)

• The system was not merging product code lists after merging two products. The same issue was affecting carrier code lists after carriers were merged. This issue was resolved. (PMG-902331)

• While creating a product from the Product List, users were finding that the carrier search was not working in some instances. This issue was resolved. (PMG-903718)

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)

Credit Card Details in APS Requirements

Users can now track credit card information for attending physician's statement (APS) reimbursements. To do so, a user must first have the new Track Credit Card Information license enabled (this license is listed under the SmartPolicies category on the user account User Rights content link). The user can then open an APS requirement in a pending case and click the Credit Card button to reveal fields for entering the credit card type, number and expiration date.

(PMG-816606)

Ability to Choose Different Sender Address for Policy/Pending Case Correspondence

When sending e-mail correspondence from a policy, group policy or pending case record, a user can now change the e-mail address from which the message is sent under certain circumstances. This can be useful, for example, when an advisor's assistant is sending an e-mail to a client on the advisor's behalf and wants the advisor's e-mail address to appear in the From field of the message.

In the Main tab of the correspondence dialog box, under E-mail Layout, select an address from the Sender Address drop-down list.

To see multiple e-mail addresses in this drop-down list, the current user must proxy for another user---user-proxies) (typically an advisor) and must be viewing that user's data (using the See Data For feature). (PMG-873760)

New Requirement Type for Health Records

A new underwriting requirement type, Electronic Health Records, was added to the system. Users can create requirements of this type to distinguish requests for health records from requests for full attending physician statements.

(PMG-895435)

Ability to Change the Insured on a Requirement

The system now allows users to change the insured on a pending case requirement to someone other than the primary insured. While viewing the requirement details, select the Insured Contact hyperlink to choose from a list of all insureds associated with the case, such as second insured and co-insured.

Previously, selecting that hyperlink allowed the user to edit the selected insured's contact record; to do that now, select the insured's name in the Insured Contact field instead. (PMG-892250)

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)

More Pending Case Custom Fields

An additional 40 alphanumeric custom fields are now available on the pending case Additional Info content link. (PMG-897621)

Other Enhancements

• New pending case status options: Several new status choices were added to the system for pending cases (the associated stage is indicated in parentheses):

- Approved - Shopping (Approved)

- Approved - Moving (Approved - for cases that have been approved with one carrier but are being moved to another carrier)

- Approved - Awaiting Reqs (Approved)

- Branch Manager (Issued)

- Declined by OSJ (Issued)

- Formal Case Setup (Informal Application)

- Life Settlement/Sold (Inactive)

- Non-Transaction Account (Issued - used when, for example, a client pays to put a policy inforce using electronic funds transfer, but the payment is rejected by the bank because the account is a non-transaction account)

- OSJ - Branch Manager Review (Issued)

- Pending Direction (Informal Application)

- Pending Underwriting (Underwriting)

- Pending Application (Underwriting)

- Pre-Screen (Proposed)

- Regional Compliance Review (Issued)

- Sale Not Approved by Regional Compliance (Issued)

- Signature Needed Informal (Informal Application)

(PMG-860300, PMG-863887, PMG-868922, PMG-872196, PMG-876332, PMG-879623, PMG-894684)

• 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)

• 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 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)

• 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)

• Ability to include Required Of data in status merge codes: When defining the data that is displayed when PCM status merge codes are expanded, administrators can now add Required Of information using the new Required Of drop-down list in Setup > Policy/Case Setup > PCM Status Merge Code Definition.

(PMG-890706)

• Ability to change requirement type: Users can now change a pending case requirement's type and sub-type, eliminating the need to recreate the requirement from scratch (and lose the associated notes) when those attributes need to be changed. To do so, select the Change Date/Status command for a requirement, and then use the new Requirement Type and Requirement Sub-Type fields to make the change.

All notes are preserved after the change. (PMG-892246)

• Ability to edit requirement remarks in Edit Mode: When using Edit Mode to create a requirement or edit multiple requirements at once, users can now modify the Remarks column (note that any existing text formatting will be lost).

(PMG-892287)

• Better handling of current risk class: SmartOffice now includes improved logic for properly populating the policy/pending case Current Risk Class field during case updates. This change applies to manual case updates as well as updates processed automatically using the Direct Download and Replace method. (PMG-900760)

• New requirement statuses: Two new pending case requirements statuses were added to the system: Required Prior to Issue and Request Carrier to Waive. (PMG-903264)

Resolved Issues

• Updating the status of a pending case from certain areas of SmartOffice was causing a blank browser tab to open once the change was saved. This issue was resolved. (PMG-790985)

• Automated contracting/compliance letters configured in Policy/Case Setup were not properly expanding their merge codes. This issue was resolved. (PMG-821132)

• 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)

• 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 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)

• In informal child pending cases, the advisor request workflow was not starting when the carrier, plan or province 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 the settings in Policy/Case Setup > PCM Workflows > Requirement Completion Workflow was resolved. Any requirement completion workflow that did not have the Required Of field set to All was not working for users when they updated requirements. (PMG-892222)

• When trying to add multiple requirements containing long descriptions to a pending case, users were encountering the error "The description exceeds 1024 characters. Please remove some requirements from selection." This issue was resolved. (PMG-893137)

• When creating Manual-type pending case requirements, users who copied text from HTML e-mail messages and pasted it into the Requirement(s) section were seeing HTML tags in the pasted text. This issue was resolved. (PMG-893463)

• When a user entered incorrect data on the pending case Benefits tab, the error message was incorrectly appearing in the Rider List section of the record. This issue was resolved. (PMG-893663)

• In custom pending case page layouts, the system was ignoring the height that the layout creator specified for the Underwriting Requirement List portlet. This issue was resolved. (PMG-895118)

• Several issues with group requirements were resolved:

- When users added a record in Policy/Case Setup > PCM Workflows > Requirement Completion Workflow, the Group Requirement option in the Requirement Type drop-down list was mislabeled Group Stage.

- When users finished adding a group requirement completion workflow, the new workflow was not appearing in the Requirement Completion Workflow list.

- After being added to a group policy, group requirements were not appearing in the Insurance > Requirement Follow-ups list when users searched by requirement manager and filtered the results to show only group requirements.

- In group policies, users who viewed the details of the Primary Advisor entry in the Policy Advisor List were finding that the Office Code, Marketing Mgr and Region Code fields were blank, even when the linked advisor record itself contained values for those fields.

(PMG-895551)

• An issue with policy/pending case correspondence was resolved. When searching for a form letter template, users were finding that the Purpose drop-down list was not displaying the default value and was not allowing users to select a choice. (PMG-893488)

• When the layout of the pending case Detail content link was customized, users were unable to modify the Plan Name field. This issue was resolved. (PMG-895904)

•  When users edited custom page layouts for pending cases, the label for the Application Type field was not displaying properly. This issue was resolved. (PMG-898851)

• When an All Cases-category pending case Dynamic Report was added to a contact custom page layout, the report was displaying all cases in the office, not just those cases linked to the contact being viewed. In addition, users who tried to add All Cases-category reports to a contact page layout were not seeing that report category listed among the available options. These issue were resolved. (PMG-899569)

• After viewing requirements on the pending case Requirements content link, some users who navigated to the Letters/Documents content link and then back to the Requirements content link were no longer seeing any requirements listed. This issue was resolved. (PMG-899950)

• An issue was occurring when the layout of the pending case Detail content link for critical illness policies was customized to include a field from the Critical Illness Custom content link. Data entered into the field was not being saved. This issue was resolved. (PMG-901177)

• 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

Featured Enhancements

Ability to Retain Historical Group Plan Data

Users can now renew a group plan in an existing policy while retaining the old plan information for historical purposes. On the policy's Group Plans list, select a plan, and then select Menu > Renew Group Plan to choose the new plan.

Note that you can select the same group plan; the restriction to selecting a plan only once for the same group policy has been removed as part of this enhancement.

The newly selected plan is added to the Group Plans list with an Active status, while the old plan remains on the list with a new status of Inactive. Group certificates linked to the inactive plan also become inactive, and status dates for both plans are updated to the current date (to see status and status date, you may need to customize the Group Plans list to add those columns). (PMG-890216)

Other Enhancements

• Improved group policy creation workflow: The process of creating group policies was improved as follows:

• 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)

• When a user creates a group policy, SmartOffice now automatically adds the business to the Policy Relationship List and assigns it the Payor and Owner roles. (PMG-903488)

• Province information on group policy detail: A Province field is now available on the Detail content link when users view or create group policies. (PMG-849380)

• 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)

• 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)

• 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)

• Show Benefit command in more locations: While viewing the Group Plan List of a group policy, users now have access to the Menu > Show Benefit command from any group plan content link, not just the List content link. (PMG-890214)

• Status and status date for group plans: Users can now view or modify the status and status date of an existing group plan. Navigate to the General content link of a group plan (e.g., for medical group plans, go to the General Medical content link) to find the new Status/Date fields (under Plan Name).

(PMG-903591)

Resolved Issues

• 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)

• 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)

• 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)

• On the group policy Detail content link, selecting the Status hyperlink was not displaying the Group Policy Status History List dialog box. This issue was resolved. (PMG-905963)

• 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)

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)

• 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)

• 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)

• When the layout of the firm Detail content link was customized to include the BN #  field, users who tried to enter values in that field were encountering an error when they tried to save their changes. This issue was resolved. (PMG-893442)

SmartCommissions

Featured Enhancements

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)

Contract Templates

SmartOffice now enables users to assign multiple contracts to an advisor or supervisor more quickly. By selecting Insurance > Contract Templates in the side menu, users who have the Advisor Contract/License Management license can search for and create templates that consist of multiple contracts. To assign a template and all of its contracts, go to the advisor Cont./Appt. content link and, on the Advisor Contract List, select the Options button and choose Apply Contract Template. Learn more. (PMG-908091)

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)

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)

• Enhanced display of first commission payments: The First Commission column, which is available in certain commission lists and reports, now displays the first commission payment on a policy for all types of commission transactions. Previously, the column displayed data for base commissions only. (PMG-890873)

• New column for net % of premium: In advisor payment lists (e.g., in the details of an inforce policy commission transaction), users with the appropriate rights can now add the Net % of Prem column. This column displays percentages to two decimal places for users who prefer that (the existing Net % of Premium column displays percentages to four decimal places). (PMG-898498)

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)

• Column showing carrier posting processed date: SmartOffice can now indicate when a carrier posting was originally processed so that users can avoid processing it a second time by accident. A date column labeled Originally Processed On was added to the Carrier Commission Posting table and is now available on carrier posting lists and Dynamic Reports. (PMG-890876)

• Transaction remarks copied from speed receipts: When a user moves a commission transaction from Speed Receipts into Carrier Posting, SmartOffice now copies the contents of the transaction's Remarks field over into the carrier posting transaction. This enhancement makes the remarks reportable in the paid commission transaction. (PMG-893404)

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)

• Sorting and grouping issues affecting Advisor Commission-category Dynamic Reports were resolved. (PMG-871688)

• After running an Advisor Commission Check-category Dynamic Report, users were unable to send correspondence from the list of results. This issue was resolved. (PMG-882206)

• 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)

• The Mass Projection utility was processing policies that were in the Inactive stage. This issue was resolved. (PMG-889742)

• An issue that was causing the Mass Projection utility to generate duplicate commission transactions was resolved. The issue was occurring in certain instances when projections were processed in the Job Queue. (PMG-891334)

• When users selected Insurance > Contracts from the side menu and then selected Search, the results page kept refreshing. This issue was resolved. (PMG-891549)

• An issue that was preventing the Mass Projection utility from generating commission projections for group policies was resolved. (PMG-894323)

• 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)

• An issue with advisor transaction import records was resolved. While viewing the details of an import, users who selected Yes or No from the Is Advisor Resolved drop-down list and then selected All were seeing an empty transaction list. (PMG-901273)

• While viewing the details of an advisor transaction import, users who validated and processed transactions had to refresh the page manually to display updated status information. In addition, the system was not allowing users to select an advisor transaction posting when they tried to link a transaction to a posting. These issues were resolved. (PMG-902004)

• 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 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)

• Commission batches were taking a long time to process when the Include Adjustment Entries option was selected. This issue was resolved. (PMG-893244)

• In some instances, the cheque amount for a Smart Check was different from the actual total of the receivables. This issue was resolved. (PMG-896147)

• After a commission batch was processed and posted, users who e-mailed commission statements to advisors were encountering an issue. The date in the statement's file name was not matching the batch's posting date in some instances. This issue was resolved. (PMG-897563)

• 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)

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)

• An error that users were encountering when adding Adjustment-type commission transactions to carrier postings was resolved. (PMG-895668)

• After entering a zero amount in the Expected Amount field of a carrier posting transaction and selecting OK, users were being presented repeatedly with Delete, Close, and Cancel options. This issue was resolved. (PMG-897968)

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)

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)

• Higher character limit for account remarks: On the Account Detail content link, the character limit for the Remarks field was increased to 4,000 from 512. (PMG-892046)

Resolved Issues

General

• During investment data import reconciliation, SmartOffice was incorrectly showing out-of-balance positions for some users. This issue was resolved. (PMG-901239)

Asset Allocation

• On the contact Asset Allocation content link, an issue with selecting the Asset Sector (G) sorting/grouping option for the Investment Asset Allocation list was resolved. When the list was printed, the data in the printout was not matching the data displayed in SmartOffice. (PMG-892054)

• On the Asset Allocation content link of a contact or other record, selecting the Asset Allocation Model field’s hyperlink was not opening a search dialog box as expected. In addition, entering text in the field was not displaying a list of matching models. These issues were resolved. (PMG-903077)

Investment Securities

• Internet Explorer users were encountering layout issues when they tried to enter the details of a new Blended Index-type investment security record. This issue was resolved. (PMG-891834)

Integrations and Data Services

Featured Enhancements

IP Telephony Integration

SmartOffice now integrates with many popular PBX IP telephony systems, allowing users to dial calls from SmartOffice through their IP phones. For many phone systems, SmartOffice can also automatically match incoming calls to the right SmartOffice contact and display a call tracking page, enabling users to enter notes, upload documents and create a calendar activity to track the call. For a list of supported phone systems and other information, see Integrations - IP Telephony. (PMG-768326)

Add-Ins for Outlook 365 and Excel 365

SmartOffice now integrates with the following Microsoft 365 applications:

• Outlook 365: The add-in supports posting e-mail messages from Outlook to the SmartOffice SmartPad, as well as contact integration to display notes, documents, policies, investments, and other SmartOffice data in Outlook.

• Excel 365: The add-in enables users to search for and run SmartOffice Dynamic Reports directly from Excel and save results in an Excel workbook.

The add-ins support the web and desktop versions of Outlook 365 and Excel 365. For information about how to install and use these add-ins, refer to SmartOffice for Microsoft 365 Help.

Note: The add-ins are currently available in English only.

(PMG-865554, PMG-865553, PMG-861726)

Other Enhancements

SmartIntegrator and SmartXchange

• 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)

• Additional SmartPad properties exposed: The RecommendationDate and DisclosureDate properties of the SmartPad object can now be accessed by external applications through the SmartIntegrator API. (PMG-891830)

• Additional annuity property exposed: The ClientAccount property of the Annuity object can now be accessed by external applications through the SmartIntegrator API. (PMG-892745)

• Additional commission band data accessible through SmartIntegrator: Developers of external applications can now access more SmartOffice commission band data through the SmartIntegrator API. The following properties of the CommBand object are now available: AgeFrom. AgeThru, FaceFrom and FaceThru. (PMG-896295)

• Object for favorite reports: A new MyReports object enables developers using the SmartIntegrator API to retrieve data about favorite Dynamic Reports using several user and report properties. (PMG-898608)

• New properties for CommHierarchy object: For developers accessing SmartOffice through the SmartIntegrator API, several properties were added to the CommHierarchy object to link that object to other relevant objects. The new properties (and the objects they reference) are:

- CarrierContract (AdvContract)

- CarrierContractObjID (AdvContract)

- GAContract (AdvContract)

- GAContractObjID (AdvContract)

- Agent (Agent)

- AgentObjID (Agent)

- CarrierRate (CommRate)

- CarrierRateObjID (CommRate)

- GARate (CommRate)

- GARateObjID (CommRate)

- InterestParty (InterestParty)

- InterestPartyObjID (InterestParty)

(PMG-900264)

• Simplified presale creation through API: To insert a presale activity into SmartOffice, developers are no longer required to include the element under to indicate the user who created the record. (PMG-901205)

• Additional product data accessible through API: To enable external applications to access product conversion period and maximum conversion age data from SmartOffice, two additional properties of the Product object have been exposed: ConversionPeriod and MaxConveAge. (PMG-901908)

Resolved Issues

Investment Data Downloads

• In instances where a downloaded investment security's CUSIP changed but the symbol remained the same (e.g., after a company emerged from bankruptcy), SmartOffice was not zeroing out old positions and creating new ones with updated share information. This issue was resolved. (PMG-892328)

• An issue was preventing investment security prices from updating in SmartOffice after processing of investment data downloads. This issue was resolved. (PMG-893411)

• When no custodian information was present for an investment account downloaded through a data feed, the system was deleting any existing custodian information in the associated SmartOffice investment account. This issue was resolved. (PMG-893697)

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

Resolved Issues

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

• 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)