FOCUS-42287- Accounts Receivable: New Manual Waiver Payment Type (Postsecondary POS, Shopping Cart, Before/Aftercare)

This enhancement introduces a new Waiver Payments feature, allowing districts to record waivers as payments on customer accounts, functioning similarly to funding source deferrals. A new ERP Accounts Receivable setting, "Enable Waiver Payments," is added, with a checkbox field defaulted to off. Additionally, a new admin profile permission, "Process Waiver Payments," is introduced under the Billing menu, also defaulted to off. Once enabled, users can access a new 'Waiver' payment type on the Student Billing screen for Receipts. Applying this Waiver Payment type will reverse the journals to offset the original invoice amount, aligning with the process for funding source deferral. The Receipt Report is updated to include Waivers in the Payment type search criteria, enhancing the tracking and management of waiver transactions.

See the following screen for more details:

• ERP > Setup > Settings > Accounts Receivable
• ERP > Setup > Profiles > Accounts Receivable tab
• ERP > Accounts Receivable > Point of Sale > Payment Types
• SIS > Billing > Student Billing
• SIS > Users > Profiles > Billing tab

FOCUS-40865- WA Unemployment Insurance Report Requirement Changes

System Improvement adding 'Federal Codes' to Setup > Government Codes.

See Government Codes > Federal Codes for more details.

FOCUS-42391- Allow For Supplement Grouping On Pay Stub

On the pay stub, supplements are given a unique hash in the description to prevent grouping. A system setting has been created to suppress this: Setup > Settings > Payroll > Paystub Options > Show Distinct Supplements: default (or blank) is "Yes", which includes the code, and is the current behavior. "No" removes the code from the supplement description.

See Settings > Payroll > Paystub Options for details.

FOCUS-42212- AT Posting Position Dropdown add a Job Posting Setup

System improvement adding a setting to applicant tracking to exclude unauthorized or unavailable positions.

See Job Posting Setup > Miscellaneous for details.

FOCUS-41940- Employee Recommendations

System enhancement adding Human Resources > Recommendations adding ability to recommend staff for new fiscal year.

See the following documents for details on the new Recommendations module:

• Human Resources > Recommendations
• Setup > Profiles
• Setup > District Codes > Recommendations
• Setup > Settings > Miscellaneous tab > Misc.
• Human Resources > Employee > Jobs

FOCUS-42466- School Choice: Adjust Lottery Logic with Sibling Guarantee

This update fixes a problem in the School Choice Lottery where students with a canceled status were incorrectly adjusted to approved due to a Sibling Guarantee priority, even when their linked sibling was on the waiting list and participated in the lottery. Now, the lottery will no longer change a student's status from canceled to approved under these circumstances, ensuring that the Sibling Guarantee priority does not override the canceled status.

FOCUS-42412- Third Party Systems: Improved Error Messaging for Student UUID Lookup Failures

This update addresses an issue in the Third Party System API, specifically when using the OneRoster dialect and Grade Passback. Previously, if a student's UUID contained extra characters, it would incorrectly return a status of 201, suggesting successful grade submission. Now, the system will correctly identify and report an error for any UUID discrepancies, ensuring accurate grade passback.

FOCUS-42407- Published Reports: Respect School Min/Max Year Settings

This update enhances the Published Reports interface where Advanced Reports can be saved and shared across different schools and profiles. A key improvement is the modification of the school multi-select dropdown: it will no longer list inactive schools for the session's school year, based on their School Info Min/Max year configuration, making the selection process more relevant and streamlined.

FOCUS-42401- Communication Platform: Set Expiration Date for Tardy Messages Generated from Kiosks

This update addresses a concern in the Communication Platform regarding Tardy notifications that were being generated without an expiration date. Now, any Tardy notification originating from a kiosk that is not dispatched within 24 hours will be automatically canceled, ensuring that parents and students receive timely attendance information and are not notified about an attendance entry after the relevant date has passed.

FOCUS-42399- Pull Grades for Report Cards: Expand Effective Date Dropdown Options

This update enhances the Pull Grades for Report Cards feature by expanding the effective date dropdown range. This improvement allows customers to select an effective date that falls within the range of the school year chosen in the session, facilitating the retrieval of grades from previous years.

FOCUS-42386- Grade Change Requests: Resolve Error with No Default Present

This update addresses an issue where users encountered an error while approving grade change requests if custom fields included in the approval process lacked a default value in their configuration. With this resolution, the process is streamlined, ensuring a smoother approval experience without such errors.

FOCUS-42385- Focus Assessments: New "Hide Source Tab" Permission for Create Assessments

This enhancement introduces a new profile sub-permission within the Assessments section, titled "Hide Source Tab," under Create Assessments. By default, this permission is set to off to preserve existing functionality. When activated, it hides the Source tab under Create Assessments for end-users, making it exclusive to those with System Administrator level access, thereby streamlining the user interface for non-administrative users. This enhancement is specific for customers leveraging Focus' Assessment add-one module.

See Profiles > Permissions Explained, Create Assessments (admin) > Viewing the Source, and Create Assessments (teacher) > Viewing the Source.

FOCUS-42384- Forms Summary: Display Optional Forms for Student's Primary Enrollment

This update corrects an issue in Forms Summary, Optional Forms that previously misidentified a student's primary school based on the start dates order, potentially confusing it with the second school enrollment. Now, the system accurately identifies the student's primary school when determining the visibility of optional forms, ensuring that the report reflects the correct information.

FOCUS-42382- Password Recovery: Improve Password Recovery when Accessed via Online Application

This update addresses a problem where the Password Recovery feature, used during an Online Application process, was mistakenly flagging duplicates by incorrectly comparing student and applicant datasets. With this improvement, when a password recovery is initiated through the Online Application, the system will prioritize reviewing applicant records to prevent erroneous duplicate identification.

FOCUS-42381- Family Portal: Improve Matching by Trimming Leading Spaces in Student Names

This update enhances the Family Portal link functionality, which requires the student's name, birthdate, and access code to be accurate for connection. Previously, a leading space before the student's name could cause the system to not recognize the information, resulting in an error message for the user. Now, this branch specifically trims any leading space from the student's first name in the credentials preparation process, ensuring smoother access for users, particularly those associated with Florida State Reporting.

FOCUS-42373- Third Party Systems: Improve Advisory Locks in Grade Passback

This update optimizes the OneRoster API by adjusting how advisory locks are used for assignment/grade passback. Previously, locks were applied at the session level, which could lead to unnecessary database traffic, especially during high-volume periods, such as when Canvas pushes numerous records simultaneously. With this change, the locks are now correctly implemented at the transaction level, significantly improving efficiency and reducing database congestion.

FOCUS-42364- School Choice: Resolve Error on Application with Translations

This update addresses a problem with the School Choice Application when used in conjunction with the Translations add-on module. Previously, parents experienced an error when trying to access the School Choice Application if their language setting was configured to a non-English option. This resolution ensures that the application is accessible without errors, regardless of the language setting.

FOCUS-42354- Rollover: Respect 2nd School Setting in System Preference

This update addresses a problem in the Rollover process where second school enrollment records were incorrectly generated, even though the system preference to roll over these records was disabled. This issue was particularly affecting customers outside of Texas and Florida, and with this resolution, the Rollover process will now adhere to the system preferences, preventing unwanted second school enrollment records.

FOCUS-42348- Kiosks: Resolve Error when Today Exists in Two School Years

This update addresses an issue where marking periods rolled over to the next year retained the same dates as the current year, causing confusion in determining the correct school year (syear) for kiosk functions. With this change, the system now orders the returned results to prioritize the current year, thereby preventing errors related to year identification in the system.

FOCUS-42332- Transcripts: Improve Display of Graduation Requirements Met in Transcripts

This update resolves an issue where graduation requirements with multiple Grad Subjects, separated by commas, were not properly displayed on a student's transcript. With this fix, all met graduation requirements, regardless of how many Grad Subjects they encompass, will be accurately reflected on the transcript.

FOCUS-42313- Communication Platform: Improve Student Groups Visibility

This update enhances the messaging capabilities within the Communication platform. Previously, to message Student Groups, users needed permission to access the Student Groups module and have at least one student group assigned or visible to their profile. Now, the prerequisite to have permission to view the Student Groups module has been removed. Users can directly message student groups as long as they have at least one group assigned to them or visible in their profile, streamlining the communication process.

See Communication (Admin) > Composing Messages and Communication (Teachers) > Composing Messages for more information.

FOCUS-42312- School Choice: Prioritize Active Enrollment for Projected Grade Calculation in School Choice Application

This update corrects an issue where the School Choice Application screen displayed incorrect Projected Grades for students who had been promoted within the current school year and thus had an inactive enrollment record for that year. The system now prioritizes active enrollment records for these students in the same way the Evaluate Placement program does, ensuring that the Projected Grade reflects the student's current status accurately.

FOCUS-42308- Communication Platform: Integrations Start & End Time Enhancement

This update introduces a start and end time feature for the Communication Platform Integrations, enhancing control over message delivery. With this new functionality, messages will not be sent before the designated start time or after the end time, allowing for more precise scheduling and management of communications.

See Communication > Settings > Integrations for more details.

FOCUS-42306- Enrollment: Custom Date Fields from Menu Include Appear as Text

This update ensures that custom Student Enrollment date type fields, when added to the Menu Include, are displayed correctly as date text in the user interface, enhancing the overall user experience.

FOCUS-42303- Assessments: Updates to L25 Report for Florida Customers

This enhancement introduces the FAST and BEST test options to the Test dropdown menu in the L25 Report, specifically tailored for Florida customers. Starting from 2024, these new options will replace the FSA tests, ensuring the report remains up-to-date with the latest testing standards in Florida.

FOCUS-42279- Student Schedule: Improve Display of Inclusion Sections

This update addresses an issue on the Student Schedule page where, if a student was re-enrolled in the same section and the 'Include Inactive Courses' checkbox was selected, the same inclusion section appeared twice instead of showing two distinct sections. Now, when an inclusion section is added after being previously dropped, the dropped date from the prior inclusion will not appear for the new section, ensuring clear and accurate schedule display.

FOCUS-42276- Print Letters & Send Emails: Improve Generation Leveraging More Search Options

This update addresses a problem where end-users encountered an error message in the interface when using "More Search Options" while generating a letter through the "Print Letters & Send Emails" feature. The resolution ensures a smoother user experience by eliminating this error when advanced search options are utilized for letter generation.

FOCUS-42264- Communication Platform: Resolve Teacher Announcements Displaying as "Sent as District"

This update modifies the email announcement functionality so that when a teacher sends an announcement through the Communication Platform, it is clearly shown as being sent from the teacher, not from the district. This change ensures that the recipients understand the specific source of the communication, enhancing clarity and context for the messages received.

FOCUS-42227- Communication Platform: Ensure Letterhead Templates Generate in Communication Letters

This update addresses a problem where messages sent through the Communication Platform were being generated without a Letterhead Template. Now, all messages will include the appropriate Letterhead Template, ensuring consistency and professionalism in communications sent from the platform.

FOCUS-42213- Ed-Fi: Resolve Access Tokens Between School Years

This update fixes an issue in Ed-Fi where there was a problem with the access token across different school years (syears) when the credentials remained the same but the URL changed. Now, the system correctly handles access tokens, ensuring seamless data exchange and functionality across different syears despite changes in URLs.

FOCUS-42116- Student Groups: Improve Assigned Users Options

This update addresses a visibility issue in Student Groups, ensuring that users assigned to a group are always included in the 'Assigned Users' dropdown, irrespective of their access to the current school. This applies to end users with the 'Assign Groups to Others' permission. Additionally, the display format for names in the potential assigned users list has been updated to 'Last Name, First Name Middle Name (Staff ID)', aligning with the standard naming convention in Focus and enabling end users to filter by staff ID, enhancing usability and consistency across the platform.

FOCUS-42089- Focus Analytics: Improve Display of Images in PowerBI

This update addresses a problem in Focus Analytics where images were not displaying correctly within PowerBI. With this resolution, images will now appear as expected, enhancing the visual experience and data representation in PowerBI reports.

FOCUS-41884- Student Groups: Ensure Limit Assigned Users Restrictions with Dynamic Groups

This update addresses an issue with Student Groups where the 'Limit Assigned Users' group designation was not working as intended. Previously, when a student group was created from a saved search, assigned to a user, and the 'limit assigned users' option was activated, the user's student search results were not correctly limited according to the saved search criteria. With this branch, the 'Limit Assigned Users' functionality should now operate correctly for users restricted to student groups associated with a designated saved search.

FOCUS-41851- Kiosk: Improve Attendance Recalculation when ADA Period Attendance Method Leveraged

This update enhances the attendance kiosk functionality in Texas, where FTE attendance period is used for daily attendance tracking. Previously, when a student checked in using the kiosk for the day during the designated period, the daily attendance would not update immediately and required a manual recalculation. Now, with this branch, the system automatically recalculates daily attendance for the student at the time of kiosk check-in, ensuring immediate and accurate attendance updates.

FOCUS-41850- School Choice: Field Level Permissions School Choice Report

This update enhances the School Choice Module by introducing individual field-level permissions for the School Choice Report and Magnet/Special Assignment Screens. It enables end users to assign profile permissions to groups, allowing them to view or edit specific elements within a student's choice record. For instance, a profile could be granted edit permissions for verification processes while restricting access to view-only for sensitive information such as status, waitlist, and priority overwrite.

See Profiles > Permissions Explained and School Choice Reports for more information.

FOCUS-41628- Discipline: Positive Behavior Enhancement

This update introduces a new enhancement in the Discipline > Positive Behavior (Setup) section. It features a school-specific Spend Profiles dropdown. Additionally, we've added 'Min Award' and 'Max Award' settings to restrict the minimum and maximum number of awards assignable per transaction. This ensures that users adhere to specified award limits.

See Positive Behaviors > Setting the Spend Profiles, for more information.

FOCUS-41507- Communication Platform: Improve Rendering of Tables in Messages

This update enhances the presentation of tables within messages on the Communication Platform. Tables included in messages will now maintain consistent width, ensuring uniformity and clarity in message formatting. Additionally, the update corrects an issue where templates would exceed the intended page count, ensuring that documents remain within their expected size and format.

FOCUS-41112- Ed-Fi: New Sync Descriptors to Ed-Fi Enhancement

This enhancement introduces a new feature in the Ed-Fi Setup, enabling customers to sync descriptors directly to Ed-Fi. This feature is particularly beneficial for customers who prefer not to use Ed-Fi mapping to avoid altering the data being transmitted. With this new option, users can have their descriptor values pushed from Focus to Ed-Fi into their custom namespace.

See Ed-Fi Setup for more information.

FOCUS-40446- Ed-Fi: New Assessments Compatibility

This update introduces support for assessments within Focus' Ed-Fi, enhancing the platform's functionality. It includes the addition of Assessments, ObjectiveAssessments, and StudentAssessments resources, as well as descriptors for Assessment Category, Assessment Reporting Method, and Result Datatype Type, to improve data management and reporting capabilities.

See Ed-Fi Setup for more information.

FOCUS-19996- Scheduling: Improved Course Catalog Interface

This enhancement significantly upgrades the visual display and functionality of the Scheduling Course Catalog, which is now presented as a datatable. This change facilitates easier entry of new courses and offers advanced features like enhanced filtering, mass updating, exporting, and customization of columns. The core functionality, allowing the Course Catalog to lock elements at the Courses & Sections level to prevent unauthorized changes at individual schools, remains intact, supporting consistency with organizational policies. Additionally, a new feature called "Inactivate & Hide Courses not Used this Year" has been introduced. This feature automatically marks any course not actively used in the current school year as inactive, streamlining course management and ensuring the catalog reflects only the courses in active use.

See New Course Catalog for more information on this new feature.

FOCUS-40337- 2312393 - Math grade does not display on interim

FOCUS-39916- Form Builder: New Footer Editor Feature

This branch introduces a 'Footers' tab in Setup>Form Builder, mirroring the Header Builder's functionality. Users can now create and manage footers, with settings integrated into the Form Builder and visible under Form Settings. The 'Footer Type' dropdown in Form Settings and the SSS>Setup>Sequences Tab includes options like 'None', 'Student Footer', and any saved custom footers. This ensures consistent application across forms and custom screens, similar to the Step Header. Moreover, custom footers attached to SSS Events become locked upon the event's lock, maintaining their defined content and structure.

See Form Builder for more information.

FOCUS-42388- Public Catalog: Enhanced System Preference Options

This update introduces three new preferences to the default school preferences in the billing section, enhancing the public catalog's usability for Postsecondary customers:

1. Hide Keyword Search on Public Catalog: Enabling this preference removes the keyword search box from the catalog page.

2. Hide Zip Code Search on Public Catalog: Activating this preference eliminates the zip code search box from the public catalog.

3. Maximum number of courses a user can select on Public Catalog: This setting allows administrators to specify the maximum number of courses a user can select from the dropdown. If a user exceeds this limit, the search button will become disabled, and a warning will inform them of the maximum number of selections allowed.

See System Preferences > Default School Preferences > Billing tab and Public Course Catalog for more information.