ACEware Systems Newsletter: New Spell Check

Website Products Demos Events About Support Customers

May 2018 | Issue #67

Current Releases: SM 8.0.063 (5/7) | AW 3.5.049 (3/22)

Webinars: Navigating the New ACEweb Online Certificate Printing - 5/17 2:00 CDT

ACEware Software Update - 6/13 1:30 CDT

ACEware Systems Newsletter - Information to Run Your Program

IN THIS ISSUE

New Spell Check Routine

Proxy Registration Tips and Tricks

Countdown to Annual Conference

Fiscal Year End

Tip of the Month: Lookup Registration

Report of the Month: Award Letter

New Spell Check Routine

We usually save big new features for conference so that we have something to get people excited about. When I showed people how easy and how much better this new spell check feature is, they asked why we weren't holding it for conference. Don't worry, I still have something grandiose to show at conference, so this is fine to show right away.

Please note that you will need to install the new support files for this feature and you can get a link from your technician. You also need to be on Student Manager 8.0.063. This build is different in that it does require new support files if you have the email module, so it isn't just an executable swap. Get with your technician to get that file as well.

To use this updated feature, go into a catalog record and type your primary description. Then click on the Spell Check button just above the entry box and it will start showing you misspelled words and potential corrections (it uses the Open Office dictionary). You can ignore it if you don't find a suitable replacement. You can also select 'Add' to add the word to your dictionary (words will be added to everyone's dictionary at your site, not just you). After fixing one word, it finds the next misspelling. Once it is finished searching, you will be told so. Unfortunately, this does not fix grammar.

A typo is embarrassing and doesn't make your organization look its best. Hopefully this will be just one more tool to catch these avoidable mistakes!

Contributed by Matthew Olson

Proxy Registration Tips and Tricks

The Proxy registration feature of ACEweb allows a logged in user to enroll another user into a course or courses, as well as enroll themselves at the same time. This allows the convenience of making just one payment for all of the registrations.

For example, a mother could enroll her 3 young children (who don't have email addresses) into different gymnastics classes, make one payment, and receive all of the receipts and confirmations at her email address.

This process can be new and unfamiliar to some users, so here's some tips that can make proxy registration a seamless and efficient process for your registrants.

Clear and concise verbiage.

As with any online process, we've found that the less people have to read the happier they are, and if there is too much to read, they will often skip over that text entirely!

Enabling the proxy registration feature is what toggles the "Enroll Someone Else" button to appear on your course status pages. The text on these buttons can also be customized to better fit your class structures, i.e. "Enroll a child" etc.

Our latest templates include verbiage on the screen after clicking Enroll Someone Else when the user is not logged in first. Check with your ACEware technician to verify that your templates are up to date and/or contain this helpful information.

Let your users know about the "Household Members" feature.

If you include helpful tips in your catalog of upcoming classes, consider adding a section geared towards making the proxy registration process easier.

Let them know that if they log into their account and go to their profile, they can add/create "Household Member" profiles that will make the proxy registration process much easier:

This can be done before the courses are open for enrollment as well, which can help cut down on the time your users spend in the registration process, as well as the strain on your servers on opening day!

Proxy registration history and more.

ACEweb users can view information about their current and completed courses, and pay balances from the Registration History page (accessed from the "My Account" page). They can also view registration history of registrations they have completed for others:

Contact your ACEware tech to verify the state of your Proxy registration process and to schedule a time to update your templates or change your verbiage.

Contributed by Jason Allen

Countdown to Annual Conference

In 22 days we'll be gathering in the Atlanta area for our 22nd Users' Conference! For those registered, you will receive an email next Monday with details to help you plan for your trip. This email will contain transportation information, final schedule details, and tips for what to bring along with you to make the most of your conference experience.

Virtually our entire team will be traveling to conference, so beginning Tuesday, June 5, you will need to call Chuck or Sharon on their cell phones if you have an emergency (involving Student Manager or ACEweb that is!)

Chuck: (785) 341-5712 Sharon: (785) 564-2710

We will be able to get you some technical support right away.

C ontributed by Sharon Brookshire

Fiscal Year End

Many of you are approaching the end of Fiscal Year 18. You have received the end-of-year memo from your finance department detailing all the deadlines for submitting invoices for payment. You've dusted off your crystal ball to figure out how much FY18 funds to encumber for every possible expense through the end of June. About this time of year, you begin to crunch those numbers every day so that you can use up every penny of your FY18 budget because you can't carry any funds over to the next FY!

If you do have funds remaining, well done! We have a couple ideas on how you can use those additional dollars for your unit instead of making a contribution to the university general fund. One idea is to put some custom programming or reporting hours on your ACEware account. If you want to pre-purchase custom work, get in touch with me and we'll work together to add those hours to your account. Paying ahead on your Support and Maintenance Agreement is another great way to use end-of-year funds. There's an added discount for purchasing multiple years so you receive more bang for your buck.

Good luck with year-end closing!

Contributed by Sharon Brookshire

Tip of the Month: Lookup Registration

Don't let that big blue look up active name button control you.

Too many users seem to think the only way to a registration record is from the name screen. So they click on the Lookup Active Name button, then search for the correct name, then bring that name record up, then finally click Edit Registration.

So at least 4 steps to get to that registration record.

But if you were to start by clicking on the green Lookup Registration button, you would already be searching the registration table. And when you click on the name of the registrant, their registration record comes up.

Instead of 4 steps to get that registration record up you've done it in 2.

Contributed by AJ Giliberto

Report of the Month: Award Letter

Are you tracking Financial Aid with Student Manager? Do you need a way to let your students know how much aid they will get? Then the Award Letter report is the place to start.

You can find this under Reports -> Registrations -> Registrations w/Fees & Payments. This isn't a complete award letter, but it has examples of the getfinaid function to show totals for the different awards. You can just copy one of the existing boxes and change the fourth parameter to the code you have for that award in the Financial Aid Module. This report even shows total financial aid, total tuition, and balance due (either to the student or to your institution).

More can be found out about the Financial Aid Module (a free module, by the way) in the help guide. Let your technician know if you need the Award Letter report (it should have been installed with the module if you have it).

Contributed by Matthew Olson