Documentation for Administrators

12.0.21 - 10/14/2023

Updated on

Finance

FOCUS-40422- chore(accounts-payable): add credit and debit columns to Invoice Reconciliation tab

System improvement adding Debit and Credit columns to the Purchasing/Accounts Payable > Invoice Report > Invoice Reconciliation Report tab.

See the Invoice Report > Invoice Reconciliation for additional information.

FOCUS-39990- feat(fixed-assets): add asset category as transfer approval node option

System enhancement adding 'Asset Category' to property dropdown in Setup > Permissions > Approval Flow > Asset Transfers.

SIS

FOCUS-40415- Mobile App: Resolve Display of Announcements

This branch addresses an issue in the mobile app where parents, with a profile having null schools, could view announcements not intended for their student's school when posted in the Communication Platform. With the update, parents will only see announcements from their attached student(s) schools and any schools they've subscribed to via the mobile app news settings.

FOCUS-40385- Ed-Fi: Use Appropriate Configuration for Prior Years in Ed-Fi Sync Scheduled Job

This branch updates the Sync Ed-Fi Scheduled Job to use the appropriate Ed-Fi configuration based on the selected school year. When configured for prior years, it will now accurately reference that specific year's Ed-Fi settings.

FOCUS-40383- Communication Platform: New Sent Indication Imported Recipients

This branch enhances the messaging feedback for users. Previously, when sending a message exclusively to imported recipients, there was no confirmation provided. Now, after dispatching such a message, users receive a 'Your message was sent' notification.

FOCUS-40378- Scheduled Jobs: MSIX FASTER Transcripts Resolution (Florida Only)

This branch addresses a database error encountered in MSIX FASTER Transcripts. The solution involves updating the function call within the scheduled job class; customers must also update to the latest Florida state reporting.

FOCUS-40377- Florida Reports: Improve Menu Display

This branch guarantees that users can view the entire Focus top menu when navigating specific sections of the Florida Reports.

FOCUS-40362- School Choice: New Computed Custom Field Option

This update brings a significant enhancement to the School Choice Module. We've incorporated a 'Computed' Custom Field type into the School Choice Setup. This addition allows our customers to craft specific outputs using SQL queries. The results from these queries will be prominently displayed on both the Choice Application and Choice Report, providing a more tailored and adaptable user experience.

See School Choice Setup > Setting Up Custom Fields for more information.

FOCUS-40353- Parent Portal: Improve Navigation to Grades Summary

In the Parent Portal, we've addressed an issue where parents had to select their student's grade twice to access the Grades Summary page. With our latest update, a single click will now directly lead to the Grades Summary, ensuring a smoother and more efficient user experience.

FOCUS-40350- Communication Platform: Improve Permissions for Student Info "Print a Form/Letter"

With the recent update, if a user lacked the "Email Letters" permission for print letters and sending emails, they were unable to add communication templates to the student's log from the student category. Now, the system checks the "send messages" capability for communication, ensuring a more intuitive permission alignment.

See Communication > Setting Profile Permissions for Administrative Users for details.

FOCUS-40349- Communication Platform: Improve Messaging for Students without Contacts

Before the update, if users tried to send a message to a student contact and the student didn't have one, the send button would continuously spin without feedback. Now, the system displays a message stating, "The message could not be sent because it would not reach any recipients." However, if sending to a mix of students where some have contacts and others don't, the message will be sent to available contacts without notifying about the students without contacts.

FOCUS-40345- Teacher Portal: Improve "Student Has been Added" Portal Alert

With this update, we've addressed an inconsistency for teachers with permissions across multiple schools. Previously, when a student was added to a course, the school displayed in the top right corner did not automatically switch to the student's actual enrolled school if it differed from the currently selected one. This branch ensures the school context correctly updates to reflect the student's enrollment.

FOCUS-40340- Enrollment: Add Notes Field to Student Enrollment

A new "Note" column has been added to the student enrollment record, offering additional flexibility and detail for tracking and documentation purposes. To maintain current functionality, visibility to this field is hidden until permission adjustment.

See Student Info: Enrollment for more information.

FOCUS-40328- Grad. Req. Report: Resolve Display of PE Waiver

This update corrects an issue with the Graduation Requirements Report. Previously, the sports PE waiver wasn't displaying when the waiver grade contained trailing spaces. This has been resolved to ensure accurate reporting.

FOCUS-40324- Proficiency Gradebook: Resolve Missing Grades Report Grade Entry

This update rectifies an issue in Proficiency gradebooks where grades entered for assignments with attached standards from the missing grades report were recorded but not visibly displayed in the gradebook.

FOCUS-40323- Take Attendance: Prevent Mismatches Due to Opened Sessions Across Days

Teachers occasionally leave the 'Take Attendance' browser window open overnight, leading to potential mismatches the next day. This becomes particularly problematic when rotation schedules are in use, as it could result in incorrect attendance records for classes that didn't meet. To address this, Focus has introduced a validation mechanism that cross-references the current date with the session's date. This measure ensures that any discrepancies are caught and prevents the input of inaccurate attendance data.

FOCUS-40320- Take Attendance: Improve Rendering Data when Printing

This update enhances the print functionality for the "Take Attendance" screen, ensuring a more streamlined and user-friendly experience.

FOCUS-40313- Communication Platform: New Announcement Permissions per Notification Type

This update refines the permissions system for Announcements in the Compose Message, Templates, and Announcements sections. Previously, there was a single permission for Announcements, encompassing both Announcements and Public Announcements for the Mobile App. Now, permissions have been granularly segmented for better control:

Announcements

Announcements: Send Emails

Announcements: Send SMS

Announcements: Send Calls

Announcements: Mobile App Public

For teachers, the following permissions have been introduced:

Announcements: Send Emails

Announcements: Send SMS

Announcements: Send Calls

Users who had the general "Announcements" permission before this update will automatically have access to the newly defined Announcement permissions.

See Communication > Setting Profile Permissions for Administrative Users and Setting Profile Permissions for Teachers for details.

FOCUS-40300- Portal: Improve Printing by Hiding Focus Chat Container

This update reinforces the behavior of the Focus Chat container, ensuring it remains hidden during printing. This issue was only present when interacting with specific versions of Chrome/Edge.

FOCUS-40278- Communication Platform: Scheduled Messages Should be Logged as Sending Teacher

With this latest update, we've enhanced our system to ensure that teachers can view scheduled messages they've added to a student's letter log, even when permissions are set to restrict visibility. This ensures that teachers have access to their own logged communications for improved continuity and clarity.

FOCUS-40271- Report Cards: Prevent Error When 'Days Absent' Present

In our latest update, we've addressed and rectified an issue that caused a database error when generating report cards with the "Days Present" feature and sorting not by the default option. Users can now seamlessly generate these report cards without encountering this error.

FOCUS-40269- Communication Platform: New End Time for Attendance Messages

The latest update introduces a new "End time" column in the Attendance setup. This feature ensures that messages are not sent out beyond a specified time, providing institutions with greater control over their communication schedules.

See Communication > Attendance-Based Messages for more information.

FOCUS-40247- Ed-Fi: Add StudentSpecialEducationProgramAssociation for Pennsylvania

The latest update introduces ED-Fi Special Education definitions tailored for Pennsylvania schools. Once integrated, the EdFi SpecialEdProgramAssc query will be enhanced to fetch the desired Log Fields directly from Pims Special Education. This enhancement ensures a more streamlined and accurate data reporting process for Pennsylvania institutions using the ED-Fi standard.

FOCUS-40246- Standards: Respect View Only Permissions

The recent update addresses a permission oversight in the Assessments > Standards section. With this correction, users granted "view only" permissions will no longer be able to make edits to standards.

FOCUS-40223- Take Attendance: Ensure Attendance Record to Period Association

The latest update rectifies an issue in the attendance system where, in specific scenarios, attendance was being recorded with an incorrect period ID for a section. With this fix, the system now ensures accurate logging of attendance records, enhancing data integrity.

FOCUS-40216- Mass Add Log Records: Improve Display of Inactive Select Options on Prior Log Entries

In the Mass Add Log Entries interface, we've enhanced the visibility of previous log entry selections. While inactive options will still be visible for existing records, they won't be available for selection when adding new entries or updating current ones. This ensures clarity and maintains historical accuracy without compromising current data integrity.

FOCUS-40214- District Reports: Better Handling of Multiple Queries In Report

This update addresses an issue in District Reports where two queries weren't being joined correctly. Previously, the queries were being combined using a space, but with this fix, they are now properly joined with a semicolon (";"), ensuring accurate report generation.

FOCUS-40205- Ed-Fi: Ensure Scheduled Job Completion with Missing State Definition

This update enhances the Ed-Fi scheduled job's resilience. Previously, if an Ed-Fi resource was selected but lacked the necessary definitions, it would halt the job. Now, the system will log the error and continue processing the remaining tasks.

FOCUS-40139- Discipline: Improve Uploading of Icons in Referral Codes & Actions

This update improves the Discipline Referral Codes & Actions functionality, allowing end-users to seamlessly upload Icons without any issues.

FOCUS-40089- Scheduling: Ensure Appropriate Default Options in Section Creation for Graded and Affects GPA

This update ensures that when new sections are created, the default values for "Affects GPA" and "Graded" are automatically populated based on the configurations set in the Course Catalog.

FOCUS-40005- CTE Kiosks: Include Meeting Patterns Retrieving Active Sections

This revision integrates meeting patterns into the process of fetching active sections for a user. This fix addresses the problem where users encountered a "There are no active school periods at this time" message upon attempting to log in during a school period that had a designated meeting pattern.

FOCUS-39939- Grad. Req. Report: Ensure Marching Band Waivers Display Correctly

This update rectifies the issue of marching band waivers mistakenly selecting "personal fitness" instead of the intended "physical education" category in the Graduation Requirements Report.

FOCUS-39914- File Upload: Ensure Appropriate MIME Type Associate on Uploaded PDFs

This update addresses a problem where certain PDFs were assigned incorrect MIME types, causing issues during download or upload.

FOCUS-39388- Discipline: New Add Detention Quick Link from Detention List

This update introduces an 'Add Detention' referral quick link button to the Discipline > Detention List screen, available to both Admin and Teacher users, which will CREATE A DISCIPLINE REFERRAL for the student. Here's what to expect:

Referral Code Selection: When using the new button, users will only see Referral Codes associated with Detention Actions.

Referral Action Choices: Only actions with the Detention option enabled will be available for selection.

New Permission: A new permission titled 'Add Detention' has been added. This allows Teachers to add detentions via the Detention List page. However, it's worth noting that while Teachers can add detentions for any student, they will only see those detentions in their list if the student is enrolled in one of their classes (and the relevant period is selected in the top right corner).

See Detention List > Adding a Detention for a Student (administrators) and Detention List > Adding a Detention for a Student (teachers) for more information.

FOCUS-39236- Discipline: New Detention Period & Notes on Detention Report

This update brings an enhancement to the Discipline module, improving the link between referral processing, detention issuance, and the tracking of those detentions within Focus. With the addition of the "Detention Period" and "Action Record Notes" columns, school administrators can now input further details about each detention case. These additional data points are reflected in the Detention Report, simplifying the process of monitoring and verifying detentions that have been served.

See Detention List, Add Referral > Adding an Action Record to a Referral, and Referrals > Adding an Action Record to a Referral for more information.

FOCUS-38134- Postsecondary: New Option for Attendance when Merging 2 Students

The branch introduces new functionality to the "Merge 2 Students" tab within the "Delete a Student" feature for Postsecondary schools This enhancement addresses the handling of differing attendance records when merging two students. The changes are as follows:

- Cancel the Merge: This option will prevent the merge from happening and display an error message. The two students won't be merged.

- Keep Student's Attendance: This option maintains the current default behavior. It uses the attendance records of the student that is being kept.

- Use the Greater Attendance: This option selects the greater attendance record, regardless of whether it belongs to the student being kept or the student being deleted. This option is selected by default.

These changes provide more flexibility in handling attendance records during the merging of students.

FOCUS-37882- Scheduled Jobs: Improve Performance of Parse Addresses Scheduled Job

This branch enhances the efficiency of the inbuilt Scheduled Job for "Parse Addresses." It introduces a new database attribute in the address.parsed_at column. With this improvement, once an address is parsed, it won't be re-parsed unless there's a recent update in the address record or the address catalog.

See Scheduled Jobs for more details.

FOCUS-40404- Gradebook Templates: Correct Sync when Adding & Removing Standards

This branch addresses a problem where updating standards for previously synchronized assignments didn't reflect accurately in the gradebook. Now, when you add or remove standards from assignments within gradebook templates, the system will ensure proper records are established, modified, or removed as needed.

FOCUS-39022- Communication Platform: Better Enable/Disable for Send/Save Buttons

This update brings several enhancements to the communication page interface:

Action Button Availability: Previously, the 'Save Draft', 'Discard', and 'Print' options might remain inactive even with a message entered. Post-update, these options will become active as expected once a message is inputted.

Navigation Warning: In the earlier version, when a user was selected, shifting the message to the 'Scheduled' or 'Drafts' tab triggered an unwarranted warning if you attempted to navigate away. This has been rectified. Post-update, the warning only appears if actual changes are made.

Message Rescheduling: An issue existed around rescheduling messages and setting their recurrence to 'none'. This has been addressed.

SSS

FOCUS-40357- SSS/Formbuilder FL & TX Snapshot (October 2023)

Florida:

https://focusschoolsoftware.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/19424329797915-October-2023-Updates-to-FL-Master-Forms-Setup

Texas:

https://focusschoolsoftware.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/19424190949403-October-2023-Updates-to-TX-Master-Forms-Setup

FOCUS-35302- SSS: Bulk PMP Enhancements

This branch introduces several enhancements to the Bulk PMP functionality within the SSS module:

1. Include Inactive Students Option: An option has been added to the Bulk PMP Triggers Search Terms popup that allows users to include inactive students in their search. This mirrors the functionality found in the Student Info Search.

2. Handling of Same Events: If the same event is selected but there's a different Content Area or Tier Level, the Bulk PMP creation will now insert a new row on the custom PMP screen to represent this change.

3. Enhanced Confirmation Messages: Messages that notify users of a "PMP Created" status have been enhanced to provide more detailed information.

4. Default Teacher on EWS Screen: The default teacher on the EWS Screen is now a list of the same teachers for all students. The nature of mass updating requires that options be the same across all rows.

5. Mass Update Button: A new Mass Update button has been added to the EWS Create Bulk PMP student lists, offering more flexibility and ease of use.

6. EWS Report Title Visibility: The EWS Report Title is now visible in the Student Drill Down list, providing a clearer context for users navigating the module.

See Bulk PMP Triggers for more information.

CTE

FOCUS-40273- CTE: Correct Attendance Hours with Meeting Patterns

This update rectifies the calculation of attended hours on the Schedule Report, Take Attendance, and Course History, ensuring accurate computation whenever a Meeting Pattern is incorporated.

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