Documentation for Administrators

12.0.20 - 10/08/2023

Updated on

Finance

FOCUS-40211- Purchase Requests/Orders > Add 'Approval Chain' information

System improvement adding the Approval Chain to the Current Request in Purchase Request/Orders.

See Purchase Requests/Orders and/or Internal Purchase Requests/Orders for details.

FOCUS-40208- chore(accounts-payable): show p-card bank on PO approval tabs

System enhancement adding Bank Name column on Purchase Request/Orders > Approval Pending & History Tab.

See Purchase Requests/Orders and/or Internal Purchase Requests/Orders for more information.

FOCUS-40206- Form Builder: Limit Students by Teacher Access

This update addresses a concern where teachers were seeing every student in the school when accessing forms. With the implementation of this branch, the system will now utilize the course period ID, if available, to refine the list of students displayed to the teacher. This ensures that teachers only view students relevant to their specific courses, streamlining the process and enhancing user experience.

FOCUS-40158- Vendors/Customers > Add hover over pop-up

System improvement adding hover feature to the address line and city in Purchasing/Accounts Payable > Accounts Payable > Vendors/Customers.

FOCUS-40135- Mass Transfer

System enhancement adding setting for Fixed Assets > Assets > Request Transfer that requires Building and Room number when transferring. To enable Setup > Settings > Fixed Assets > 'Require a Destination Building & Room on Transfer'.

See Setup > Settings > Fixed Assets tab, Manage Assets > Mass Transfer, and Transfer Requests for more information.

FOCUS-40053- Receivables Report not showing Facility column

System improvement adding Facility column to the Accounts Receivable > Reports > Receivable Report.

See Receivables Report for more details.

FOCUS-39642- Budget Maintenance Templates - copy to new year

System enhancement adding ability to rollover Budget Maintenance Templates in Setup > Rollover Budgets.

See Budgets for more details.

FOCUS-39634- Adding Tab Specific Permissions for Government Codes

System enhancement adding a profile permission to each sidebar menu in Setup > General Ledger > District Codes.

FOCUS-38828- Invoice Number on Fixed Asset Report

System improvement adding 'Invoice Number' column to Fixed Asset > Fixed Asset Report.

See Fixed Assets Report for more information.

FOCUS-39815- Change Order Notification

System enhancement adding the ability to send notification when processing purchase order change requests. To enable Setup > Setting > Accounts Payable > Change order notification recipients.

See Setup > Settings > Accounts Payable tab for details.

Payroll

FOCUS-40009- If a pay type is used in the run without being assigned to the run - give an error

System improvement adding a warning for pay types not included in the pay run.

FOCUS-39897- App_Track - Job Postings Page

System enhancement allowing districts to display any or all filters on the Job Postings page.

See Job Posting Setup for more information.

FOCUS-39888- Add Posting Number to Applicants and EAF

System improvement adding Job Posting Number to Employee Action Form and Human Resources > Applicant Tracking > Postings.

See Applicant Tracking for more details.

FOCUS-39394- Applicant Tracking - Drop Down for Job Posting Title

System enhancement to Applicant Tracking > Job Postings > Title - new filter allowing user to select from Job Titles in the Setup > General Ledger > District Codes > Bargaining Units.

SIS

FOCUS-40306- Communication Platform: Modification of Attached Files in Messages

This branch addresses a previously encountered issue where users couldn't modify attached files while editing an existing message, whether it was a draft, scheduled message, template, or an unsaved message accessed from advanced search or other screens. Following the update, users with the necessary edit permissions can seamlessly modify attached files in any message, ensuring a more user-friendly experience.

FOCUS-40291- Scheduling: Resolve Class Minutes Weekly Values in Print Class Lists

With this update, the "Class Minutes Weekly" will now display accurately when incorporated into the "Print Class Lists" feature.

FOCUS-40290- Communication Platform: Prevent Duplicate Messages to Students when "Students & All Contacts" Option Used

With this update, we've resolved an issue concerning message notifications to students. Previously, when messages were sent to students and all their contacts, the students would receive the primary notification intended for them. However, they would also receive additional notifications for each contact that lacked an email address or phone number. Post-branch integration, this duplication has been addressed, ensuring that students receive only the appropriate notifications without any redundancies.

FOCUS-40284- Mobile App: Ensure Teacher Class Announcements are Visible

With the latest update, a previously identified issue has been addressed. Prior to this update, when a teacher posted an announcement for a class, students were unable to view the announcement within the app. However, post-branch integration, students can now seamlessly view class announcements in the app as intended.

FOCUS-40275- Mobile App: Resolve Error for Admins Viewing Student Info

With this update, the issue causing a white screen to appear when selecting "Student Info" in the Community Mobile App has been resolved. Notably, this problem was specific to admin end-users with "All Schools" access in their user enrollment record. Now, these users can navigate to the "Student Info" section without any disruptions.

FOCUS-40267- Scheduled Jobs: Ensure FLEID Job Runs as Expected (FL Only)

With this update, the issue affecting Florida State Reporting customers, where the FLEID scheduled job wasn't generating as expected, has been resolved.

FOCUS-40264- Communication Platform: Send Emails/ Phone Messages to Students for Announcements

This update addresses a problem in the Communications Platform where students were not receiving phone calls or emails tied to Announcements. With this fix, students will now reliably receive notifications related to Announcements, ensuring smoother communication between schools and their students.

FOCUS-40256- Grades: Prefer School Location Value in Grades Summary

This update ensures that the school displayed on a student's Grades Summary screen will use the School Location value from student_report_card_grades when available, instead of the default School's title.

FOCUS-40251- Communication Platform: Ensure Communication Queue Job Completion

Prior to this update, errors associated with attendance messages could potentially delay or halt the sending of all messages in the Communication Platform, Communication Queue scheduled Job. With this branch implementation, messages will be sent out consistently, regardless of any errors that might occur with attendance messages, ensuring uninterrupted communication.

FOCUS-40245- Communication Platform: Improve Deduplication for Once Per Family

Previously, the deduplication feature was only applied when the "Once-Per-Family" option was selected and it was also sensitive to case differences. With this branch update, deduplication logic has been enhanced to apply to all imported recipients irrespective of the "Once-Per-Family" setting. Additionally, the process is now case-insensitive, ensuring more accurate and effective deduplication.

FOCUS-40236- Student Info: Respect Log Entries Default Preference when Generating Letters

With this enhancement, the system will now consider the system preference "Add student log entries by default when using Print Letters and Send Emails" when creating a letter through the Student Info module. This ensures a more consistent experience for users based on their predefined settings.

See System Preferences > General for more information.

FOCUS-40232- Communication Platform: Respect Filters My Preference in Communication Report

This branch addresses the problem where the 'Default Filters On' preference set by a User wasn't reflected in the Communication Reports datatable. With this update, users can expect their specified default filters to be consistently applied when viewing the Communication Reports.

FOCUS-40230- Teacher Gradebook: New Preference for Minimum Percent for Proficiency

A new grading system preference, "Min Percent for Proficiency Grades," has been introduced. This preference allows users to establish a minimum grade percentage for those using the Proficiency Gradebook.

See System Preferences > Grading tab for details.

FOCUS-40212- Gradebook Configuration: Add Support to Disallow Exclude Assignments in Gradebook

This branch introduces a new preference within the Default Gradebook Configuration setup that governs the ability of users to exclude assignments within the gradebook. When the "disallow" option for this preference is activated, the 'Exclude From Average' feature within the gradebook assignment will be concealed from users. This enhancement offers administrators better control over gradebook functionalities, ensuring consistent grading practices across the system.

See System Preferences > Gradebook Configuration tab for more information.

FOCUS-40204- Mass Add Log Records: Resolve Display for Form Records

This branch addresses an issue in the Student Mass Add Log Records where the display of form records was incorrect when multiple form records existed. With the implementation of this fix, the system now accurately represents each form record, ensuring clarity and accuracy for users reviewing the logs.

FOCUS-40196- Grades: Allow Pull Grades without Grading Scheme

This branch addresses an issue where users encountered a database error while utilizing the "Pull Grades for Report Cards" feature without a grading scheme set for the section. With this update, the system ensures smooth grade retrieval even when a grading scheme isn't specified for a given section.

FOCUS-40190- Mobile App: Correct Display of Next Class Time

This branch resolves an inconsistency in the Community Mobile App where a student's upcoming class start time was displayed incorrectly. With this update, students can now accurately view the start time of their next class, enhancing their scheduling experience within the app.

FOCUS-40185- Communication Platform: Allow Removal of Letterheads in Templates

This branch addresses an issue with the Communication Platform templates that had a letterhead template attached. Prior to this update, once a letterhead was associated with a template, it couldn't be removed. With this enhancement, users can now update the template to detach the previously linked letterhead, providing greater flexibility in template customization.

FOCUS-40181- Incident Fields: Account for Bad Formatting

This branch addresses a formatting problem with a local Incident Field. Prior to this fix, the incorrect formatting caused the Incident Custom Fields screen to display incorrectly. With this update, the screen now displays as intended, enhancing user experience and functionality.

FOCUS-40168- Attendance: Correct Output on Teacher Completion Report

This branch resolves a configuration problem in the School Period setup that previously allowed administrators to drill down and unintentionally view teachers listed on the Attendance Teacher Completion Report. With this fix, the report now functions as intended, ensuring appropriate access and display of data.

FOCUS-40157- Communication Platform: Ensure Assigned Letterheads Remain on Templates

This branch addresses an issue in the Communication Platform where messages with attached letterheads were losing their attachments upon being moved to the scheduled tab. With this update, messages retain their associated letterhead templates even after being shifted to the scheduled tab.

FOCUS-40156- Print Class Lists: Respect Admin, Not Teacher Permissions

This branch addresses a problem with the Print Class Lists functionality. Previously, when an administrator attempted to generate the report, it would evaluate based on the teacher's permissions for certain elements instead of the administrator's permissions. With this update, the Print Class Lists will correctly respect the permissions of the administrator generating the report.

FOCUS-40148- Scheduling: Respect Lock Date Preference in Master Schedule Builder

This branch reintroduces the functionality to honor the "Lock Schedule Builder as of date" system preference when utilizing the Schedule Builder within the Master Schedule Builder module. By doing so, schools can ensure that schedules are built based on the constraints set by the specified date, providing administrators with more control and accuracy over the scheduling process.

FOCUS-40145- Print ID Badges: New Options for QR Code for Students

This update brings exciting enhancements to the Student Print ID Badges feature. Users will now find two new options: "Use QR Code" and "Include both QR Code and Barcode." Selecting "Use QR Code" will generate ID Badges with a QR code in place of the traditional barcode. Alternatively, opting for "Include both QR Code and Barcode" ensures that both identifiers are present on the badge. This provides greater flexibility and functionality for ID Badge generation.

See Print ID Badges for more information.

FOCUS-40140- Teacher Completion Report: Ignore Standards Hidden from Report Cards

This branch addresses an inconsistency in the teacher completion report. Previously, the report displayed red x's suggesting that the teacher hadn't posted standards grades, even when the "Hide from Report Cards" option was activated for that particular standard. With this update, the report will accurately reflect the status of standards grades, taking into account the "Hide from Report Cards" setting.

FOCUS-40137- School Choice: Hide Notes on Choice Screen in Parent & Student Portals

This update enhances the user experience for schools using the School Choice Module. With this branch, the "Notes" field, which is intended for office use, will no longer be visible on the Choice screen in the Parent and Student Portals. This ensures that any internal or administrative notes are kept confidential and not inadvertently shared with parents or students.

See School Choice Reports > Viewing the Student List Tabs and Verifying Application Information and Magnet/Special Assignment > Viewing and Modifying a Student's Application Information for more information.

FOCUS-40129- Communication Platform: Enhancements to Discipline Communication Templates

We've refined the Communication Discipline templates to address an earlier inconsistency. Users previously encountered an issue when generating "Discipline" tagged templates with the "Include Student Name/ID on Each PDF Page" setting enabled. With this update, users can seamlessly print discipline letters from Referrals, ensuring the student's name and ID appear on every page of the PDF. This enhancement underscores our commitment to providing an intuitive and efficient user experience.

FOCUS-40126- SSS: Warning on 'Can View' & 'Can Edit' Settings for Form & Component

To provide clearer guidance and prevent potential misconfigurations, we've added a warning to the Info Tip Icon for both 'Can View' and 'Can Edit' settings on Form & Component. Users will now see the note: This setting should NOT be used for SSS forms. This enhancement is designed to streamline the setup process and ensure that SSS forms are managed correctly.

See Form Builder > Adding Components and Presets to a Form for more information.

FOCUS-40116- School Choice: Allow Mass Update on Evaluate Placement

We've made improvements to the School Choice Module, specifically on the Evaluate Placement screen. Users can now benefit from the restored mass update functionality for both the "Reason" and "Status" columns.

FOCUS-40110- Community Mobile App: Enhanced Student Photo Visibility

For a better user experience, we've enhanced the Community Mobile App by allowing users to click on a student's photo to enlarge it. This ensures improved visibility and accessibility, making it easier for users to view details without straining. Simply tap on the photo to see it in a larger format.

FOCUS-40057- Tardy Thresholds: Refinement to Scheduled Job Logic

We've addressed a challenge in the Tardy Thresholds functionality. Previously, the process of issuing referrals through the Tardy Thresholds feature might be interrupted if the system came across an unexpected issue. With this update, the procedure has been fortified to ensure consistent and timely issuance of referrals even when anomalies arise.

FOCUS-40055- Student Lists: Optimizing StudentListOutput Performance

The branch introduces an optimization to the handling of StudentListOutput when the "Show All" option is selected. To enhance system performance, the options of Alert Icons, Student Photos, and Icon Quick Links are no longer included in the returned results. This change ensures a faster and more streamlined experience for users.

FOCUS-40035- Add a Student: Display Address Override for Choiced Students Appropriately

This update ensures that when comparing a student's Choice Assignment, the system now considers the association of the program's school. If the school where the student is being enrolled (through "Add a Student") is different from the accepted choice school's program, the "Address Override" pop-up will be shown to the user.

See Add a Student for more information.

FOCUS-40033- Post Final Grades: Resolve Issue with Posting in 4x4 Schools

We've addressed an inconsistency in the grade posting process for teachers at 4x4 schools. Previously, when teachers navigated to the 'Post Final Grades' option from their menu, they were unable to post grades or conduct for a progress period due to the system not recognizing the marking period in the request. This update rectifies this oversight, ensuring that teachers can seamlessly post grades for all applicable periods.

FOCUS-40017- Communication Platform: Enhancements to Template Permissions

We have made important refinements to how templates function in the Communication Platform, ensuring more flexibility and enhanced collaboration among users:

Previously:

The "View others templates" permission let users see templates shared by other users.

The "Edit others templates" permission let users modify templates shared by other users.

Updated Functionality: - Without any specific permissions, users can now view templates shared by other users.

- With the "View others templates" permission, users can view any template from other users, regardless of sharing status.

- The "Edit others templates" permission is still required to modify other users' templates.

- However, these templates don't need to be marked as shared. Adjusting sharing settings still necessitates the "publish templates" permission.

It's important to note that templates created by teachers remain private by design, ensuring their content stays exclusive to the creator. These changes foster a more flexible and streamlined experience when dealing with communication templates in the system.

See Communication > Setting Profile Permissions for Administrative Users for more information.

FOCUS-39991- Enhanced Handling of User-Generated HTML Content

In our continued efforts to refine user experience, we've introduced a specialized web component designed to seamlessly render user-generated content that contains HTML within the Focus platform. This advancement ensures that such content displays correctly, maintaining the integrity of the Focus site layout. Moreover, this component is tailored to strip out any <script> tags and restrict absolute or fixed positioning. These adjustments ensure a consistent visual presentation, while also preventing any potential layout disruptions from user-generated content.

FOCUS-39911- Mobile App: Standardize Display of Pending Re-Enrollment Forms

This branch harmonizes the user experience between the Community App and the Student Information System interface. Specifically, it addresses an inconsistency where the button to proceed with a Pending Enrollment would display differently in the two platforms. Now, when a user views a Pending Enrollment in the Community App, they will see the In Progress status, aligning with what they would observe in the Student Information System interface. This ensures a consistent and intuitive experience for end-users across both platforms.

FOCUS-39879- Take Attendance: Display Popup for Today's Attendance Only

This branch addresses an inconsistency that occurs when a teacher modifies the attendance of a previous day. Previously, when the teacher tried to alter the attendance records of a day other than the current one, they were prompted with a message saying 'Please confirm that all students are present and in attendance.' This message was not pertinent to their actions, as they weren't working on the present day's attendance. The new update uses the 'hide_today=true' parameter in the URL, which is triggered when the 'X' button next to today's date is clicked, to determine if today's attendance inputs are hidden. By doing so, the system can accurately suppress the popup message when the teacher is working on previous days' attendance, ensuring a smoother and more intuitive user experience.

FOCUS-39829- Communication Platform: Lock Recipient When Using Reply Transfer to Compose

Before this update, when users clicked on the "Transfer to Compose" button to continue replying to a message, they were taken to the Compose screen with an empty recipient dropdown. With the implementation of this branch, the process has been streamlined for better usability. Now, when the "Transfer to Compose" button is used during a reply, the Compose screen automatically locks onto the original message's recipient.

See Communication (Teachers) for additional details.

FOCUS-39596- Communication Platform: New Setting for Including User IDs on Every Page

This branch introduces a new feature to the communication system: the "Include Student and User names/ID On Each PDF Page" setting. When activated, this setting ensures that every page of a printed communication from the platform displays the student's or user's name and ID. By default, this feature is turned off, preserving the existing functionality for users. It's worth noting that this setting is exclusively available to administrators. Furthermore, this update addresses a previously reported error related to mailing templates in the discipline screen. With this branch's implementation, printing such templates no longer produces an error, enhancing the system's reliability.

FOCUS-39458- Course Catalog: Migration to Update Course Length

This branch introduces a migration tailored for customers, facilitating the update of 'Course Length' values to align with the latest options. This comes as a continuation of the enhancement made in version 12.0.11, where there was an integration of 'Course Length' between Courses and Course Catalog. The migration ensures that users have consistent and up-to-date options available, further streamlining the course management process.

FOCUS-39223- Mobile App: Limit Student List by School

This enhancement introduces a dropdown menu of schools on the student list page of the Community Mobile App. This feature enables these users to filter the student list by selecting a specific school, thereby reducing the list size and improving navigation efficiency for those with permissions across multiple schools.

FOCUS-38276- FAS: New Reopen Test Feature

This enhancement introduces a "Reopen Test" functionality for selected students within the Focus Assessments module.

1. Permission-Based Access: A new permission titled "Reopen Test" has been added under Profile > District Assessments. Admins can assign this permission to either admin or teacher users, granting them the capability to reopen tests.

2. Test Reopening Mechanics: A user with permission can now

- Reopen a test for a selected student as long as it falls within the specified assessment timeframe.

- On reopening, the student's status is set to "incomplete," and any previous completion timestamp is erased.

- Post-reopening, the student's reports will indicate that the assessment hasn't been completed.

3. Discard Functionality: The "Discard" action will mark the student's assessment as incomplete. After discarding, the "Reopen" button will no longer be visible for that student's test. However, the student can retake the assessment, provided it's still within the test's active timeframe.

4. Adjustable Timeframes: The assessment timeframe can be modified. The "Reopen" button's visibility responds dynamically to such changes. Specifically:

- After modifying the timeframe, a page refresh will update the visibility of the "Reopen" button in line with the new timeframe.

- The "Reopen" option remains accessible until the last day specified in the "End Date" of the assessment timeframe.

This feature provides educators with more flexibility in managing student assessments.

See District Assessments > Assigning an Assessment to Students (admin) and District Assessments > Assigning an Assessment to Students (teacher) for more information.

FOCUS-36481- Community Mobile App: Introduce Support for Time Out for SSO Configurations

With this update, the Session Timeout setting in the community app will now function correctly for users who log in via Single Sign-On (SSO). Previously, SSO users were unaffected by the Session Timeout settings, but with this fix, they will experience consistent session timeouts like other users.

FOCUS-40311- Form Builder: Fix tab index in relation to dropdowns

FOCUS-40040- Grad. Req. Report: Improve Load Times Searching by Grade Level

SSS

FOCUS-40206- Form Builder: Limit Students by Teacher Access

This update addresses a concern where teachers were seeing every student in the school when accessing forms. With the implementation of this branch, the system will now utilize the course period ID, if available, to refine the list of students displayed to the teacher. This ensures that teachers only view students relevant to their specific courses, streamlining the process and enhancing user experience.

FOCUS-40132- PMP Event: Correction to Display Graph Step Fields

Before the update, if a PMP Event was locked and subsequently the student's enrollment was dropped, unlocking the event (while the student had no active enrollment) would result in certain fields in the Graph steps, such as Content Area and Tier Level, being empty. This was due to the absence of a relevant grade level. With this new update, even under such circumstances, the fields in the Graph steps will continue to display the appropriate values as expected.

FOCUS-40101- SSS Caseload & Services: Improved Date & Time Mass Update in Groups

We've addressed an inconsistency in the Caseload & Services>Groups functionality. Previously, when using the Mass Update Date & Times button for one student, subsequent students in the group would have their time updated correctly, but their date field remained blank. With this update, both date and time are correctly updated for all students in the group, ensuring uniformity and accuracy in data entry.

FOCUS-40008- Enforce permissions when viewing SSS Event Instances

Previously, parents were being alerted to the need for a signature in an SSS event for their child. However, upon clicking this alert, they were met with a conflicting message stating they lacked the requisite permissions to view such events. This branch corrects this discrepancy in the access permissions concerning SSS events.

CTE

FOCUS-39859- CTE: New Grade Level Setting on Application Courses

A new system preference, named Define Grade Levels on Application Courses, is now available under the Online Application System Preferences tailored for postsecondary customers. When activated, an additional setting named "Grade Levels" emerges in the Application Courses setup. This enhancement is specially designed to enable postsecondary institutions to associate specific grade levels with particular course offerings. When a student is filling out their Online Application, if they make a selection in the "Application Grade Level" system field, the Course Offerings will dynamically adjust to show only those courses pertinent to their chosen grade level. This enhancement aims to streamline the application process by showcasing only relevant courses, leading to increased accuracy in applications and reducing the need for manual administrative adjustments later on.

See System Preferences > Online Application and Application Editor > Setting Up Application Courses (Postsecondary) for more information.

FOCUS-39318- CTE: New Attended Hours Report on Teacher Portal

This branch introduces a new enhancement to the Teacher Portal for postsecondary customers. The "Attended Hours Report" is now available for teachers under the Attendance menu.

1. Profile Permissions: Administrators can enable the "View" permission for the "Attended Hours Report" under Users > Profiles > Permission Type: Menu, Role: Teacher > Attendance Category.

2. Ease of Access for Teachers: Once enabled, teachers can easily access the "Attended Hours Report" directly from their Attendance menu. Unlike the admin workflow, when teachers select this report, they will not be directed to the search screen. Instead, the report will automatically display information pertinent to the students in the section selected at the top right.

3. Tailored Views for Teachers: The report has been optimized for the teacher's perspective. They are restricted to viewing data only for their students/sections. However, for the data they can view, the report offers comprehensive functionality similar to what admins experience. For instance, teachers can:

- Adjust the start and end date for the report.

- Opt to "Display Scheduled and Attended Hours as Decimal" for a clearer breakdown.

4. Benefits: This enhancement provides teachers with a more streamlined way to view attended hours for their students. It eliminates the need for teachers to delve into individual student records if the student has multiple sections, offering a consolidated view as opposed to the Attendance Chart.

Overall, this new addition ensures teachers have the tools they need to efficiently monitor and manage their students' attendance hours.

See Attended Hours Report for more details.

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