12.0.41 - 03/23/2024

Finance

FOCUS-42555- feat(accounts-receivable): add transaction list and simplified cash entry to cashouts

New setting to 'Enable single-line coin and bill entry' in Accounts Receivable > Billing > Cashouts.

See Setup > Settings > Accounts Receivable > Cashout and Accounts Receivable > Cashouts for more information.

FOCUS-42468- Add Customer and Vendor filter option on Vendors/Customers screen

System improvement adding new search criteria in Purchasing/Accounts Payable > Accounts Payable > Vendor/Customer.

See Vendors/Customers for details.

FOCUS-42157- Postsecondary: New button to Delete Invoices for a schedule record

This update introduces a "Delete Invoices" button on individual schedule records, enhancing the management of unpaid invoice allocations. This button allows users to delete unpaid invoice allocations associated with a specific schedule, provided these invoices have no partial payments or deferrals. It's designed to streamline the process of managing financial records, especially when a student changes schedules or withdraws, by enabling the removal of associated invoices before deleting a schedule record. The button appears only when there are eligible invoices for deletion and is available to users with the necessary billing and invoicing permissions. Additionally, the system will create "AR Invoice Unaccrued" journals for each deleted allocation, ensuring financial records remain accurate and up-to-date.

FOCUS-41126- feat(accounts-receivable): add permission to restrict deletion to same-user invoices in POS

System enhancement adding a profile permission to SIS > K12 Billing "Delete Only Own Transactions in Billing Panel". When enabled the users is restricted from deleting a transaction created by another user.

See Profiles for details.

Payroll

FOCUS-41783- Add ability to set supplements to not roll and whether they are partial year or full year

System improvement adding supplement roll setup to ERP > Payroll > Maintenance > Maintenance By Fiscal Year > Main Tables > Slots/Steps.

See Maintenance By Fiscal Year > Slots/Steps for details.

SIS

FOCUS-42570- Course Catalog: Respect My Preference Filter Display Option

This update addresses an issue in the Course Catalog where it did not adhere to the "My Preferences" setting for displaying filters by default. With this fix, if the preference is enabled, the Course Catalog will now load with the filters activated.

FOCUS-42540- Parent/Student Portal: Cambium/ TIDE Family Portal SSO in Texas

This feature introduces support for the TEA Family Portal in Texas, utilizing the TIDE Access Code to facilitate single sign-on for parents and students. Once the code is entered for a student, they and their parents gain access to a new "Texas Statewide Assessments" button on the Portal. This button provides a direct link to the TEA Family Portal, offering a streamlined way to access assessment information at https://tx-familyportal.cambiumast.com/index.html#/.

FOCUS-42529- Communication Platform: Performance Improvement Generating Letters with Attendance Insert Fields

This update enhances the performance of the Communication Platform, specifically when generating letters using templates that include Attendance-related Insert Field variables.

FOCUS-42527- New Course Catalog: Correct Display of State-Specific Fields

This update refines the Course Catalog by hiding specific fields (Start date, End date, Course Level, CCD Certification, Template Course ID, Reading, ESE Type, and ELL) for customers not utilizing Florida State Reporting.

See New Course Catalog > Viewing the Course Catalog for more information.

FOCUS-42511- School Choice: Improve Lottery Logic with Sibling Guarantee

This update enhances the lottery logic in the School Choice add-on module by ensuring that a seat is not offered to a second sibling guarantee student if their program application is marked as declined or cancelled.

FOCUS-42497- Attendance: New "Class Duration" Calculate Method

A new System Preference has been introduced for Arizona customers, named "Use class duration for calculating minutes present on Daily Attendance." When this feature is activated, the system will use the section's Class Duration field (course_periods.custom19) for calculating daily attendance minutes instead of relying on the Bell Schedule.

FOCUS-42496- Communication Platform: Ensure Applicable Referral Information Presented in Email

This update ensures that when a referral letter is emailed from the Discipline module, the Communication Template referral Insert Fields generate from the selected referral. Previously, if a student had referrals from the current and previous years, a prior referral's information may generate in the distributed email.

FOCUS-42474- Delete a Student: Bypass Conflicting Grades in Merge 2 Students

This update enhances the student merging process by resolving a previous issue where conflicting duplicate grades between the deleted student and the existing student would cause a database error. Now, the system will update non-conflicting grades and will not merge incoming duplicated grades with those already existing. Duplicate conflicting grades is based upon matching Course Title, Course Number, Marking Period Term, Section Title, and School Title.

See Delete a Student for more information.

FOCUS-42473- Master Schedule Builder: Improved Scheduling Issues Messaging (No Teacher Assigned)

This enhancement improves error messaging in the Master Schedule Builder's Scheduling Issues area. Now, when sections are imported into the Master Schedule Builder without assigned teachers and the builder is run, any sections still lacking teacher assignments will be clearly flagged with "No teacher assigned" in the "Scheduling Issues" column of the sections report.

FOCUS-42442- Communication Platform: Improved Secure Message Link

With this update, when a secure message is sent, the recipient clicking on the link will be directed not just to the inbox, but to the specific message itself, which will now be highlighted within the Communication Platform for easier identification.

FOCUS-42436- Take Attendance: Update Hours Present when Attendance Reverted to Present

This update for postsecondary customers ensures that when a teacher marks a student as absent and then subsequently changes the status to present, the hours present for the student are correctly reverted back from 0, maintaining accurate attendance records.

FOCUS-42435- Invalid Address Report: Ensure Primary Schools Generate in Zoning Issues

This update modifies the Zoning Issues tab within the Invalid Address Report module. Previously, the Current School column displayed students' secondary schools instead of their primary schools. With this change, secondary schools are removed from the search criteria, ensuring that only primary schools are considered in this report.

See Invalid Address Report for more information.

FOCUS-42432- Communication Platform: Restrict New Messages in Prior School Years

This enhancement to the Communication Platform prevents the sending of new messages when a prior school year is selected in the session.

See Communication for more details.

FOCUS-42428 - Student/ Parent Portal: Prefer Posted Grade Over NG | Students Scheduled into Multiple Duplicate Courses Same Period

This update addresses an issue where students logging into the portal might see an 'NG' (No Grade) instead of their actual posted grade. The problem was due to the order in which courses and grades were retrieved, with 'NG' being selected if it appeared first. Now, a new check is implemented to ensure that if a non-'NG' grade is available for a course, it will be displayed instead.

FOCUS-42426- Importer Enhancement: Students Join Students & Team ID Conversion

This update brings two enhancements to Focus Importer. First, it introduces the capability for Primary and Secondary Student ID conversion for Linked Students imports, which will be based on the import key configuration defined for the students table. Second, it adds a feature for Team ID conversion in the enrollments table, further enhancing data integration and consistency.

See Importer for details.

FOCUS-42408- Gradebook: Incorrect Weighted Category Letter Grades Only

This update refines the logic for calculating the Category Average in the Gradebook when the "Letter Grades Only" option is selected. Previously, the Category Average was calculated using the ratio of earned points to total possible points for category assignments. With this enhancement, when "Letter Grades Only" is enabled, the system will instead use the GPA points average of category assignments to determine the Category Average, aligning this calculation with the method used for Class Average.

See Gradebook for more information.

FOCUS-42372- School Choice: Improve Auditing via Refresh School Choice Data Scheduled Job

This update enhances the auditing process within the School Choice Module, specifically concerning the "Refresh School Choice Data" scheduled job. Now, an audit log will be created only if there is an actual update made to the choice record in the school_choice_application_status table, ensuring that audit logs are generated only when meaningful changes occur.

See Scheduled Jobs > Built-In Scheduled Jobs Explained for more information.

FOCUS-42343- Importer: Update ACT Parser for 2023-2024 Test Date Administration

This update modifies the parser SQL for the ACT within the Importer, broadening the case statement to encompass the test date administration values for the 2023-24 academic year. This enhancement ensures that the system accurately interprets and processes ACT test data corresponding to the latest administration cycle.

FOCUS-42331- Teacher Portal: Ensure Standard Grade Posting Alerts Display for Semester Courses

This update addresses a problem where standard grades posting alerts were not appearing for teachers as expected. The issue occurred when standard grade marking periods posting dates were set, but the course was assigned to a semester marking period instead of a full year. With this fix, teachers will now receive the appropriate alerts for standard grades posting, ensuring they are informed about key grading deadlines.

FOCUS-42316- Print Letters & Send Emails: Improve Rendering of Large PDFs

This update addresses an issue where large PDFs, generated from student demographics using a "print letter and send email" template, failed to produce, resulting in a blank page. Now, with this branch, the PDF letters generate as expected, ensuring reliable document creation and enhancing the user experience.

FOCUS-42304- Referrals: New Search doesn't respect 'View Referrals Inactive Student' permission

This update ensures users must have the 'View Referrals Inactive Student' permission under Discipline to access inactive student referral information when leveraging the New Search module, ensuring data is only visible to authorized personnel.

FOCUS-42150- Scheduling: New Planning Periods Enhancement

The new Planning Periods feature in the Scheduling module allows for the setup of individual, departmental, and duty planning periods, as well as unavailable periods for teachers. These periods are then displayed as blocked on the Teacher Schedules Report. Importing planning periods into the Teacher Constraints tab of the Master Schedule Builder ensures teachers are scheduled only during available times. An 'Import from Planning Periods' button in the Master Schedule Builder enhances scheduling efficiency by excluding reserved periods from available times. Additionally, the Teacher Schedules Report now includes a 'Percent Fully Scheduled' metric, reflecting real-time scheduling changes. This feature requires activation via profile permission, which is set to off by default.

See Planning Periods,  Teacher Schedules Report, and Master Schedule Builder for more information.

FOCUS-41994- Online Application: Resolve Save Button Adjusting Primary Residence

This update resolves an issue encountered when adding address information for a new student. Previously, if the 'Primary' address checkbox was unchecked and a save attempted, an error correctly indicated that a primary address is required. However, if the 'Primary' checkbox was re-enabled, the 'Save' button remained disabled, preventing users from saving the address and progressing with the application. This fix ensures that the 'Save' button is reactivated once the 'Primary' checkbox is checked again, allowing for the address to be saved and the application process to continue smoothly.

FOCUS-41986- Scheduling: New "History Logging Control" Courses & Sections Sub-Permission

This update introduces a new sub-permission named "History Logging Control" under Scheduling, Courses & Sections. By default, it is enabled for users with Edit Courses & Sections and Sections permissions to preserve existing functionalities. If this sub-permission is disabled for a user profile, that user will not have the option to exclude recording changes to a teacher on a section from the History record. This is achieved by removing the "Do not log History" option in the teacher log pop-up window, which appears when altering the teacher of record through Courses & Sections and the Master Schedule Report, ensuring all changes are appropriately logged.

See Profiles > Permissions Explained, Courses & Sections > Adding Teacher History, and Master Schedule Report > Viewing the Sections Tab for more information.

FOCUS-41331- Graduation Requirements Report: Improve Course Ordering by Required Credits

This update improves the course ordering process by considering the required credits and credits earned, enhancing the accuracy of fulfilling graduation requirements. Previously, electives and requirements were not being allocated correctly, potentially leading to scenarios where a student appeared not to meet the requirements even when they had. With this enhancement, the system more accurately tracks and applies credits, ensuring students' progress toward graduation is correctly represented.

FOCUS-42234- Scheduling: New Mass Requests Feature

This enhancement to the Mass Requests feature simplifies managing course requests for student groups by introducing the ability to replace a course request (drop and add) in one step. While retaining and visually improving the mass adding and removing functionalities, this feature enables more efficient, targeted management of course requests. Users can now search for students based on various criteria, like previous year course enrollment, streamlining the course request process.

See New Mass Requests for more information.

SSS

FOCUS-42397- SSS: Respect School Permissions in Approval Flow Alerts

Before this update, if an SSS Caseload Service was submitted for a student at a school to which the approver did not have access, an SSS Portal alert would still display for that user. However, since the "Pending Signature" tab was hidden for them, clicking on the alert would redirect the user to the Caseload tab, causing confusion. With the new update, if an SSS Caseload Service is submitted for a student at a school where the approver lacks access, the SSS Portal alert will no longer appear, streamlining the user experience and reducing confusion.

CTE

FOCUS-42157- Postsecondary: New button to Delete Invoices for a schedule record

This update introduces a "Delete Invoices" button on individual schedule records, enhancing the management of unpaid invoice allocations. This button allows users to delete unpaid invoice allocations associated with a specific schedule, provided these invoices have no partial payments or deferrals. It's designed to streamline the process of managing financial records, especially when a student changes schedules or withdraws, by enabling the removal of associated invoices before deleting a schedule record. The button appears only when there are eligible invoices for deletion and is available to users with the necessary billing and invoicing permissions. Additionally, the system will create "AR Invoice Unaccrued" journals for each deleted allocation, ensuring financial records remain accurate and up-to-date.