Documentation for Administrators

12.0.42 - 04/07/2024

Updated on

Finance

FOCUS-42625- Budget Maintenance: Add Type and Journal Date columns to drafts table

System improvement adding Type and Journal Date columns to Budgeting/General Ledger > Budget > Budget Maintenance > Drafts > Existing Drafts.

See Budget Maintenance and Internal Account Budget Maintenance for more information.

FOCUS-42536- Split p-card management permissions into district and internal

System improvement separating profile permission in Setup > General Ledger> Bank Accounts > PCards. This new profile permission will allow the user to either manage Internal Account PCards or District PCards or both.

See Profiles and Bank Accounts for more information.

FOCUS-42535- Add filtering/sorting to Invoices & Receive Orders

System improvement adding sort/filter functionality to Purchasing/Accounts Payable > Invoices -Invoices and to Purchasing/Accounts Payable > Receive Orders - Line Items.

FOCUS-42389- feat(rollover): add fiscal year dropdown to PO rollovers

System improvement to Setup > Rollover >Purchase Orders and Internal Purchase Orders adding 'Roll To: Fiscal Year dropdown.'

See Setup > Purchase Orders for details.

FOCUS-42334- Add permission to delete files/comments for requisitions that are not approved

System improvement adding profile permission to delete files and comments on Purchase Request while in pending status.

See Profiles, Purchase Requests/Orders, and Internal Purchase Requests/Orders for more information.

FOCUS-42037- Add the option to setup Approval Flow permissions by HR Position

System enhancement adding Position Code to Setup > Approval Flow.

FOCUS-41782- Checkout User Search

System improvement adding User ID search filter to Fixed Assets> Reports > Assigned User Report > User Report.

See Assigned User Report > User Report for more information.

FOCUS-42694- Add setting to remove portal drawers from available cashout drawers

See System Preferences > Billing for more details.

FOCUS-42623- Add transaction list to pending cashout printed PDF

Payroll

FOCUS-42716- Leave history summary breakdown

System improvement adding a Leave History Summary by Job to Human Resources > Leave History.

FOCUS-42630- Allow filtering on recalc supplements to be by both pay type and slot

System improvement adding the ability to recalculate supplement by pay type and slot.

See Maintenance By Fiscal Year > Slots/Steps for more information.

FOCUS-42509- Default Employee Additional Fields System Pref for Online Applications

System improvement adding ability for District to default Employee Fields in Human Resources > Online Applications.

See System Preferences > Parent Registration and Online Applications for more information.

FOCUS-42278- App Track Audit Trail

System improvement adding audit trail for applicant tracking actions.

See Employee Wages for details.

FOCUS-42267- Time & Attendance Approval > Approval History > View All

System Improvement adding View All to Time and Attendance.

See Profiles and Time & Attendance Approval for more information.

FOCUS-42214- Wage Line Ending Date

System improvement removing pay type end date from Job Wage line in Human Resources > Employee > Jobs if Staff Position is not ended.

FOCUS-42120- License field on SIS

System improvement adding Employee Field 'License' to SIS > User Info.

FOCUS-41444- Add Enrollment Fields to Student Breakdown Report

System improvement adding enrollment-team fields to Student Breakdown.

FOCUS-42141 - Check for missing current wage records

System improvement adding Payroll Error when wage line is missing.

SIS

FOCUS-42726- Communication Platform: Enable 'Send Email' when Custom Email Only Selected

Previously, using a communication template required an additional selection alongside entering a custom email address to activate the 'send email' button. The current update ensures that the 'send email' button becomes active immediately after entering a custom email address, streamlining the communication process.

FOCUS-42711- Communication: Maintain List Filters After Creating or Editing Announcements

In the past, creating an announcement would automatically activate the 'inactive' and 'all schools' filters. With the latest update, the filter settings remain unchanged from the user's preferences when they initiate an announcement, providing a more consistent user experience.

FOCUS-42692- Communication Platform: Improve Quick Link to Student Info in Communication Report

Previously, if a student had an enrollment record for the next school year at a different institution, clicking their name in the communication report would redirect to the future school's student information page. The recent update corrects this issue, ensuring that users are directed to the student's current school information when selected from the communication report.

FOCUS-42691- Communication Platform: Respect Session when Generating Letter through Print a Form/Letter

Prior to the update, when using the 'Print a Form/Letter' tab to print a communication template, the year displayed in the top right session was not acknowledged, resulting in fields being populated based on the default school year. The latest update ensures that the year indicated in the top right is now properly utilized to populate the fields, enhancing the accuracy of the communication templates.

See Advanced Report (Students) and Advanced Report (Users) for more information.

FOCUS-42689- Communication Platform: Seamless Recipients in Drafts

Previously, an error occurred when attempting to import recipients to a draft within the Communication Platform. The latest update resolves this issue, enabling seamless import of recipients to drafts.

FOCUS-42680- Assessments: Add FAST to EWS Report (Florida)

This update enhances the EWS report by incorporating FAST STAR tests for mathematics and reading, specifically tailored for Florida customers. The newly included tests are:

- Florida Assessment of Student Thinking (FAST) - Star Mathematics

- Florida Assessment of Student Thinking (FAST) - Star Reading

- Florida Assessment of Student Thinking (FAST) - Star Early Literacy

These additions aim to provide a more comprehensive analysis for users.

FOCUS-42664- Importer: Updating Locker Combinations & Linking Enhancements

The new "Lockers" import tool is designed for updating existing lockers, specifically the Status, Combo, and Active Combo fields. It uses the "Update Only" import method. While the Number and Location fields are filled during locker creation and, along with School ID, act as import key columns, they cannot be updated through this tool. The Building field within the location is mandatory for the import. For assigning students to lockers, the "Lockers: Assign Students" import tool is used. This tool requires Location and Locker_ID as import keys, with School_ID and Building as necessary fields. It supports all import methods, facilitating flexible student-locker assignments.

See Importer for more details.

FOCUS-42652- Reenrollment Forms: Resolve Payment Messaging

This update addresses the issue where parents were prompted to make a payment again when returning to the reenrollment form. Now, if a user revisits and attempts to complete the reenrollment form, the system will recognize prior payments, preventing redundant payment requests.

FOCUS-42646- Communication Platform: Improve Loading of the Communication Student Tab

The latest update addresses a loading issue in the Communication Platform within the Student Info tab. Now, the communication report for an individual student will load seamlessly across the three sub-tabs: Student, District, and Attendance, ensuring a smoother user experience.

FOCUS-42644- Student Groups: Exclude Inactive Users from 'Assigned Users' Options

The update ensures that only active users are displayed for selection in Student Groups for assignment, enhancing the accuracy and relevance of group assignments.

FOCUS-42643- Incorrect Period Attendance Not Restricting by School Year (Advanced Reports, Print Letters, Communications)

This update rectifies an issue where Period Attendance data retrieved in Advanced Reports, Print Letters, or Communications was not confined to the selected school year (syear), inadvertently including attendance from other years. Now, the data is correctly limited to the specified school year, ensuring accuracy in reporting and communication.

FOCUS-42641- Application Editor: Display Header Logo when Configured

The update guarantees that when a Header Image is configured on a form via the Application Editor, it will be displayed to the end-user within the application. In cases where no Header Image is used, the system will default to displaying the District's logo, maintaining a consistent visual experience.

FOCUS-42640- Community Mobile App: Resolve Inbox Opening Keyboard Automatically

The latest update modifies the behavior on Android devices within the Community Mobile App: now, when opening a conversation, the keyboard will not automatically appear. Users must tap the text field to bring up the keyboard. This behavior has been confirmed to align with the iPhone's functionality, ensuring a consistent user experience across both platforms.

FOCUS-42633- Communication Platform: Ensure Attachment File Delivery in Attendance Messages

The update addresses a previous issue where, if multiple students met the criteria for an attendance message with attachments, only one student would receive the attachments. Now, with this resolution, each contact will receive their individual copy of the attachment, ensuring that all relevant parties receive the necessary information.

FOCUS-42622- Advanced Reports: Resolve Rendering '%' Characters when Printing

The update corrects an issue where, if the System Preference for Default User Preferences of Date Format was not set, printing an Advanced Report that included the Birthdate field would incorrectly display a '%' sign instead of the expected '/' character. Now, dates will be formatted correctly in reports, enhancing readability and accuracy.

FOCUS-42617- Automated Cron Messages: Prevent SQL Errors when By Query Ends with Semicolon

The latest update addresses a problem with Automated Cron Messages where an error would occur if the emails were generated by a query that concluded with a semicolon. This fix ensures that queries ending in semicolons no longer disrupt the generation of automated messages.

FOCUS-42604- School Report: New Include Computed Option

A new 'Include Computed' checkbox has been added to the School Report to enhance performance. By default, this checkbox is in the off position but can be included as part of the saved criteria for future School Reports, allowing users to tailor the report generation process to their needs. When checked, Computed School fields will be included in the report.

See School Report for more information.

FOCUS-42587- Ed-Fi: Don't Include Future Attendance in Sync

This update improves the Ed-Fi Sync process by ensuring that only attendance data for current and previous school days are included. In the past, attendance records inadvertently included future attendance, which is now corrected to exclude such data from StudentSectionAttendanceEvent records.

FOCUS-42574- Communication Platform: Ensure Correct School Displays for Inbox Subtitle

The update addresses a discrepancy where users with access to multiple schools might see an incorrect school listed under their name in the header within the Communication Platform, Inbox. Now, the school displayed aligns with where the recipient and sender share enrollment, ensuring consistency and accuracy in the user interface.

FOCUS-42568- Student Audit Trail: Display Student Tabs in Header

The latest update enhances the display of the Student Audit trail within the interface. When users transition from Student Info to the Audit Trail, the student sub-tabs will now persist in the header, facilitating a smoother and more integrated user experience.

FOCUS-42552- Re-Enrollment Forms: Do not Refresh Page when Deleting Contacts

The update addresses the problem with Re-enrollment Forms where deleting a contact would refresh the window, resulting in the loss of all entered data on the page. Now, contact deletions occur without the need to refresh the window, preserving all other information entered by the user.

FOCUS-42548- Student Portal: Resolve Printing Grade Report

Previously, students encountered an 'Empty print content' message when trying to print a grade report. The update rectifies this issue, ensuring the report prints as expected without any errors.

FOCUS-42546- Communication Platform: Resolve Display of '&' in Draft Subject

In the Communication Platform, an issue where saving a draft, template, announcement, or scheduled message with an ampersand in the title resulted in displaying "&amp" has been corrected. Now, only the "&" character will be shown, reflecting the intended text accurately.

FOCUS-42543- School Choice: Display Applicable Program Notes on Evaluate Placement

This update refines the functionality in the Magnet/Special Assignment, Evaluate Placement section. Previously, application notes appeared regardless of whether students met the necessary program and grade criteria. Now, the notes displayed are contingent upon the student's eligibility for programs based on the Customize Application criteria outlined in School Choice Setup. This enhancement aligns the behavior of the School Choice Application and Evaluate Placement, ensuring consistency.

FOCUS-42538- Scheduled Jobs: Resolve Master Schedule Snapshots Job Failures

The resolution addresses a problem where scheduled jobs for the Master Schedule Snapshot were failing, a situation that arose following a recent enhancement to the Course Catalog. This fix ensures that the Master Schedule Snapshot jobs execute successfully, maintaining the system's reliability and effectiveness.

FOCUS-42503- Communication Platform: New Message Button on District Reports

This update introduces a "Message" button to District Report results, enhancing communication capabilities. When reports return results that include either a Student ID or Staff ID column, and the user has the appropriate permissions under Communication > Send Messages, this button will be displayed. If the results contain both Student and Staff ID columns, the button will be linked to the first column that appears. Clicking the "Message" button takes the user to the Compose screen, with the IDs from the report already selected in the recipient dropdown, facilitating immediate and relevant communication.

See District Reports for more information.

FOCUS-42499- Attendance: Improved Behavior of Take Attendance for Teachers who are Both the Co-Teacher and Inclusion Teacher

This update addresses the handling of teachers who serve as both inclusion teachers and co-teachers. Previously, such teachers were only recognized as inclusion teachers after taking attendance, preventing the creation of 'attendance_completed' records and leading to persistent alerts on the portal without a success message. Now, a teacher who is both an inclusion teacher and a co-teacher will be treated as a regular teacher, enabling the system to generate 'attendance_completed' records. Additionally, if a teacher is solely an inclusion teacher, a specific message will appear post-saving to reflect their action, though a check mark will not be displayed to maintain its reserved meaning for attendance completion for that section.

FOCUS-42482- Communication Platform: Advanced Report Message Feature Enhancement

This feature enhancement to the Communication Platform introduces the ability to send messages directly from User and Student Advanced Reports. Users with the appropriate permissions will now see a 'Send Message' button in their Advanced Report Search results. Selecting this button will redirect the user to Communications, with the students or users from the search results pre-selected in the send-to area. In order for the message to appear the Student/Staff ID must be present in the report.

See Advanced Report (Students) and Advanced Report (Users) for more details.

FOCUS-42479- Communication Platform: Resolve Add Log Record Checkbox Display with Scheduled Messages

Prior to the update, selecting 'send as district' and 'add log records', then scheduling a message or creating a draft, would result in the 'add log records' option becoming unchecked and locked on the scheduled and draft tabs within the Communication Platform. The latest update retains the 'add log records' option as checked and unlocks it, even when the message is scheduled or saved as a draft, ensuring user preferences are maintained throughout the process.

FOCUS-42478- Electronic Grade Changes: Ensure Checkboxes Remain Checked after Saving

The update addresses a problem with checkboxes in the Electronic Grade Changes section. Previously, when requesting grade changes, checkboxes would not retain their checked state after saving, and during the approval of grade changes, the changes were not visibly reflected. The branch resolves this issue, ensuring that checkboxes remain checked after saving and that changes are accurately displayed during the approval process.

FOCUS-42427- COE Report: Exclude Grade 12 Students

This update for postsecondary customers ensures that Grade 12 students are excluded from the COE (Certificate of Eligibility) Report, enhancing the accuracy and relevance of the report's data for its intended audience.

FOCUS-42395- Attendance: Better Handling of Take Attendance when Teacher Session Expires

This update addresses a potential issue where, if a teacher is logged out while on the Take Attendance page and then logs back in, they are redirected back to their previous Take Attendance session, which could inadvertently lead to duplicate attendance entries. To prevent this, a header redirect is now implemented after attendance is taken, ensuring that logging back in after a session expires doesn't result in reposting of attendance data. This solution is aimed at resolving the issue described, although it's noted that the exact problem couldn't be reproduced during testing.

FOCUS-42369- Gradebook Reports: Improve Assignment Title Wrapping in Progress Reports

The update addresses an issue in Progress Reports where, when the option to print assignments on one line was not selected, longer assignment titles were not wrapping text correctly. The branch rectifies this problem, ensuring that longer titles now wrap appropriately, enhancing the readability of the reports.

FOCUS-42297- Letterhead Templates: Resolve Issue Changing Default Program from Transcript

The update addresses an issue where changing the default template/program in Letterhead Templates from Transcript did not clear the side content associated with the previous default template/program. Now, the system checks whether the default template/program is set to Transcript; if it is not, the side content will no longer display when using a letterhead template in Print Letters & Send Email, ensuring that only relevant content appears based on the selected template settings.

FOCUS-42291- Attendance: Improve Navigation in Perfect/Excessive Attendance Report

The update rectifies a navigation issue within the Perfect/Excessive Attendance report. Previously, when users attempted to search in the Skip Report or Excessive Absences sections, they were erroneously redirected to the Perfect Attendance tab. With this branch, such redirection is corrected, ensuring that users remain on the appropriate tab while conducting their searches.

FOCUS-42263- Florida Shots: Resolve Immunization Import (A, J, & E)

The update addresses a specific issue with the Florida Shots API integration, where certain vaccines were not consistently transmitted to Focus from the FLDOH during imports. The branch ensures reliable importation of the following vaccines into the system:

- A - DTP Vaccine

- J - Hepatitis B Vaccine

- E - HIB Haemophilus Influenza Type B Vaccine

FOCUS-42255- Graduation Requirements Report: Don't Display Future Credits when Viewing Individual School Year

The update corrects a problem in the Graduation Requirements Report where selecting a school year tab would incorrectly display courses taken outside of the selected school year. Now, when a specific school year tab is clicked, the report will exclusively show courses that the student undertook during that particular school year, ensuring the data's accuracy and relevance to the selected timeframe.

FOCUS-42195- Communication Platform: Assign Message to Another User Enhancement

The branch introduces a "Assign to User" feature in the Communication Platform, add-on module, enabling users to send drafts to other users. This feature requires specific user permissions. When utilizing this option, users can select the recipient and provide a note, which will serve as the draft's title. The recipient will receive notifications through a message, email, and portal alert, informing them about the draft assignment. If the recipient lacks permission for certain fields within the draft, those fields will appear grayed out and will not be editable. However, the recipient can still edit, delete, print, schedule, or send the message. Additionally, if the recipient has permissions to assign drafts, they will have a convenient link to reassign the draft back to the original sender.

See Communication (Admin) > Assigning Messages to Other Users and Messages Assigned to You for details.

FOCUS-42118- Letter Templates: Add Support for Select Multiple Graduation Requirements in Insert Fields

The update enhances the Letterhead Template's Insert Fields feature by including graduation requirements that encompass multiple grad subjects. Previously, only individual grad subjects were available for selection. Now, users can access and insert fields related to multiple graduation subject requirements, which are presented per Graduation Plan in the Insert Field options, offering a more comprehensive and detailed approach to template customization.

FOCUS-42012- *Communication - Handle invalid student/user fields within messages

The update resolves an issue where Communication Platform messages containing specific student fields, when sent to staff members, would result in an error that prevented the delivery of those messages to staff. With this branch, messages now send without errors, regardless of the mix of student and staff recipients. Additionally, the update broadens the utility of the insert field menu by adding more user fields, enhancing the customization and relevance of message content.

FOCUS-41537- School Choice: Choice Short Name Setting in Grade Levels

This enhancement introduces a new "Choice Short Name" column to the Gradelevel configuration for customers using the School Choice Module. This addition is specifically beneficial for districts that use unique grade level short names beyond the standard PK-12 framework. The assignment of these unique short names is only necessary if the district requires them to be recognized and processed in the School Choice Lottery and Priority Calculator, ensuring that the system accurately reflects and manages the district's specific grade level identifiers.

See Grade Levels for more information.

FOCUS-41526- Form History: Resolve Loading Forms for All Schools with Enable Voiding of Forms Permissions

Previously, when the "Enable Voiding of Forms" system preference was active, users navigating to the Form Requests in the History Tab and selecting "Show All" followed by a record ID encountered an issue where the page/form would not load. This problem was due to the display of records from multiple districts, attributed to the absence of a district_id column in the gl_requests table. The branch update corrects this by ensuring that when this preference is enabled and users visit the History Tab in Form Requests, they can view forms without issue, as only records from the user's district are displayed.

FOCUS-41412- Form Builder: Computed Tables Font Size Improvement

Previously, changes made to the font size in a computed table within the Form Builder were not visible in the preview, creating a discrepancy between the configuration and its visual representation. The update ensures that when font size adjustments are made in a computed table, these changes are accurately reflected in the preview, aligning the design experience with the expected outcome.

FOCUS-39434- Graduation Requirements Report: Flagged Custom Student Fields in Overview Report

This update introduces an enhancement to the Graduation Requirement Report functionality. Custom Student Fields that are marked as "Visible on Student Grades" will now also be displayed on the search screen for the Graduation Requirement Report. Previously, these fields were only visible in the individual student view. This enhancement is designed to streamline access to crucial student information, making it readily available in different report views for more efficient and comprehensive data analysis.

SSS

FOCUS-42737- SSS: Improve Performance Caseload & Services, Pending Signatures

Previously, SSS Caseload & Services Pending Signature tab was unable to load due to an extensive number of records, which led to errors. Now, with the latest update, this tab loads as expected, enhancing user experience and efficiency.

FOCUS-42666- SSS: Accommodations Support (Ohio)

The update introduces SSS Accommodations support for customers in Ohio. In the updated system:

- The "Schedule" dropdown across all tabs: Presentation, Response, Timing, and Scheduling, will now default to "IEP Duration."

- The "Location" and "Frequency" dropdowns have been removed from all tabs, including Other Accommodations.

- A "Description" field is added to each accommodation, allowing users to input detailed descriptions for chosen accommodations. This includes the "Other Accommodations" category.

- The Accommodations screen, when printed, will present both the Accommodation and its associated Description, ensuring a comprehensive display of information.

FOCUS-42647- SSS: Improve Saving in IEP Progress Monitoring Goals Table

Previously, the SSS, IEP Goals Progress Report's graph did not save the expected level and data points automatically or even when the save button was clicked. The recent update ensures that these elements are now automatically saved as intended, improving the reliability of tracking progress in IEP goals.

FOCUS-42628- SSS/Formbuilder Florida Snapshot (March 2024)

This update introduces the March Florida SSS snapshot. For a comprehensive overview of the updates included in this release, please consult the detailed guide available at:

https://focusschoolsoftware.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/24163255829019-March-2024-Updates-to-FL-Master-Forms-Setup.

See Manage Student: ESE Events, IEP 2.0 and Amended IEP 2.0, and Manage Student: Threat Assessment Events for more information.

FOCUS-42606- SIS Form Requests: Ensure Students Receive Emails for "Send Back to Originator"

The update fixes the issue where students were not receiving an email notification when an approver clicked "Send Back to Originator" on an SIS Form. Now, students will receive the appropriate email notification in such scenarios, improving communication clarity.

FOCUS-42502- SSS: Goals & Objectives Support for Ohio

This enhancement introduces new support within the SSS module, specifically in the Goals & Objectives section, tailored for customers in Ohio. This update is designed to enhance the functionality and user experience for those utilizing the SSS module in this region.

FOCUS-42484- SSS: Disable Verification when Printing Mass Events

Previously, when the verification check setting was enabled in SSS, General, users encountered only the verification screen during mass-printed events, obscuring the event details. The update modifies this behavior: even when the verification check setting is enabled in SSS, General, the verification screen is now disabled for mass-printed events, allowing users to view the event details directly.

FOCUS-42439- SSS: New Options Allowing Linking Services to Goals & Adding Text Fields to Describe Services

The branch introduces two new settings in SSS, General: 'Schedule of Service - Service Descriptions' and 'Schedule of Service - Linked Goals.' When these settings are enabled, users gain the ability to link services to specific goals within the IEP Schedule of Services step. Additionally, a 'Service Description' text field is added, allowing users to provide detailed descriptions of the services, enhancing clarity and specificity in the IEP documentation process.

See General for more information.

FOCUS-42409- SSS: Add Option to Check Access Points Determining Objectives Requirements

The branch introduces a new checkbox labeled 'Access Points' in SSS, General, Require Objectives. When enabled, the system will reference the Alternative Assessment SIS field (students.custom_791) to determine the necessity of objectives:

- Objectives become mandatory if the 'D' or 'P' option is selected in the 'custom_791' field.

- If a student's 'custom_791' field is null or marked 'Z', then whether objectives are required will depend solely on the student's grade level.

Importantly, the presence of an alternate assessment designation ('D' or 'P') overrides the grade level criterion, mandating objectives regardless of the student's grade level.

See General for more information.

FOCUS-41951- SSS: Add New Basic Standard Header in Form Builder

The branch introduces a new Student Basic Header for Form Builder forms within the SSS module, enriching the data context with essential student information. This header includes the following fields:

- Student Name

- Student ID

- Gender

- Grade

- School

- Date of Birth (DOB)

Additionally, this basic header can now be selected in the SSS module under Setup, in the Sequences tab, within the Step Header column, offering a standardized way to display core student details in various forms and processes.

See Form Builder > Creating a New Form and Setup > Setting Up Sequences for more information.

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