October 2020 | Issue #96
 
Current Releases:  SM 8.0.092 (10/5) | AW  3.5.060 (7/22)
ACEware Systems Newsletter - Information to Run Your Program
New Sort Options on Registration Screen
The forward/next arrows in Student Manager allow you to skip through records so you can find the one you need quickly and easily. Some of you have pointed out that registrations aren't as easy to skip around in.

There is some history here. For one thing, there isn't really an order to registrations themselves other than by add date and time. When accessing registrations from the course, it was possible to have student ID order. Similarly, from the name, it was possible to order registrations by the course code. But that was it for choices. All of this is to say, it was complicated to add other ways to sort registrations. I had to write some magic code to be able to sort things in other ways. (Definition of magic code: code that shouldn't be in a particular area, but it works!)

So, the update to Student Manager 8.0.092 does have a sort button right above the arrows on the screen. Depending on how you are accessing it will yield different choices:
From the course:
  • Add Date (time is implied with this choice)
  • Only Last Name (probably not the greatest choice with siblings, spouses, and lots of common names in the same course)
  • Last Name - First Name
  • SSN/ID
  • Firm
From the name or lookup registration (since you are picking a name):
  • Add Date
  • Number (of the course)
  • Title (of the course)
  • Begin Date
AND you choose this once in each area (so twice) and your choice is remembered in between runs. No need to reset this on a regular basis unless you do change your mind. Also, let your colleagues who don't get the newsletter (why aren't they subscribed?) know about this as the choices are specific to the user running this.

I hope this is useful in making you faster at your job!

Contributed by Matthew Olson
2021 ACEware Users' Virtual Conference
Thank you for responding to our poll question in early October. We reviewed your responses, and a date has been selected for our 2021 Annual Users' Virtual Conference.  Hold the week of June 7-11 on your calendar and share with your colleagues! 

We're already planning session topics, so NOW is the time to send me a note with topics you'd like to see covered. And, we'll be reaching out to many of you to share the exciting things you are doing in your program!

Contributed by Sharon Brookshire
October Goodies from ACEware!
If you attended the October Update Webinar, you saw the many new goodies available in Student Manager and ACEweb since July. There are too many to list here - you can view the recording and visit the Forum. Here a few customer and ACEware favorites:

New ACEware Payment Service Provider
We are excited about our newest partnership with MySchoolBucks. This adds to our growing list of Payment Service Providers.  

Customer Favorite Features/Enhancements (as noted on the webinar survey):
  • The color coding on the registration screens
  • The mass publish date in Student Manager
  • The ability for students to cancel themselves from courses with no fees
  • The Contact Us form (see more information below)
  • The mass register recognizing member fees.
New ACEweb Contact Us Form Available
We're offering a new contact us template for ACEweb that provides a form to send an email to the email address(es) listed in the OfficeEmail INI setting in ACEweb.ini.  
 
Check out the page on the ACEweb Sandbox and see examples of other features you could add to your own Contact Us page, such as links to your Social Media pages, a Google map, and Weather forecast.

New ACEweb Course Layout Available
We're offering a new optional module for ACEweb that displays your course groups in a Grid format. See an example on the ACEweb Sandbox.

Contact Sharon (sharon@aceware.com or 800-925-2493 ext: 238) for details and pricing.

Contributed by Sharon Brookshire and Cheryl Scott
ACEware Update Webinars in 2021
In 2019, ACEware introduced our software update webinar series.  The purpose of these sessions was to show-and-tell what new goodies were added Student Manager and ACEweb, and allow time for questions about the new features or enhancements. All sessions were recorded so you could return on demand when needed. These sessions have been well received and well attended, so we will continue!

The first year (2019), update webinars were held monthly. In year two (2020), update webinars were quarterly (January, April, July, and October.)  We want your opinion on how to proceed in 2021 - monthly or quarterly. Let us know here!

Some of you gave your feedback following the webinars held in July and October - thank you! Too many skipped the short survey to race to your next appointment, and we understand that! Before we set the 2021 sessions, we do want to hear from you.  

Contributed by Sharon Brookshire
Tech Tip of the Month: Maintaining Your Database
  1. Remember to do a Backup before updates or cleanup (Tools > Backup)!
  2. Data Cleanup in Tools Menu - Many options that take you through a clean-up wizard.
  3. Mark classes inactive periodically to reduce the data that Student Manager is searching through.
  4. After any kind of clean up, run a Pack/Reindex for Optimal Performance. Make sure you did not skip the backup step!
Recommended Maintenance Schedule:

Contributed by Susan Kraft
Report of the Month: Student Financial History
Student Manager has a number of financial reports available, but one that is not readily available is a complete financial summary for one student across any/all classes. You can run a receipt for any given class, but again a from top to bottom view of billings and payments is not a standard report.
 
Enter Student Finance Summary. One of our new/returning clients was asking for a simple listing of all billings and payments, so we put together this report. The report is in Accounting/Daily Income by Date. The name of the report is Student Finance Summary. It has a JUSTDOIT that sorts the payments by student, then by course #, and excludes voided payments. It also is set to print one page per name (puts each name on a separate page). The summary page still displays the revenue by payment type, however that may be removed if you wish.

You can download the template here. Instructions for importing the report is here.

Contributed by Chuck Havlicek

To your continued success!

- Chuck, Sharon, Cheryl, Jason, Joe, Lindsey, Matthew, Mike, Stein, and Susan

 ACEware Systems
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We appreciate hearing from you! If you have questions, comments, or suggestions about this newsletter, please contact sharon@aceware.com 

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Aceware Systems
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