The Month in Review: July 2021 Feature Releases

Derek Nichols

Believe it or not, August has finally arrived. As we head towards another school year, let’s review everything that arrived and changed for the Education management products during July 2021.Just like that, July is now behind us. I hate to admit it but we’re now speeding towards the start of the new school year as well as the end of this here blog’s hiatus. We’ve got some good stuff planned for the month of August, but I’ll save that for a another today.

Today’s blog post is all about July and everything that went down with the Blackbaud Education Management products. It was a shorter month than typical due to the Fourth of July holiday as well as BBCON, but we still managed to add in a ton of new additions from the Files and Forms Bulk Delete in Enrollment management, to numerous quality of life updates. So, let’s jump right in to all the details.

Academics
Even with a smaller release schedule, the Academics team managed to put together some big updates in July. Arguably the biggest addition were the various improvements to the Faculty assignment details age for teachers. There’s a huge amount of quality of life updates, too many to list here, but we’ve put together a video to give you a look at all of the new additions. Have a look!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trXxu7uTodM


Gradebook was also revamped in July in an effort to provide a more robust experiencing while also filling in existing gaps. The Gradebook tab has ultimately been replaced by the Launch Gradebook button. Inside, educators will find all kinds of improvements including a consolidated settings area, new display options, save and commit options, and plenty more. Again, there are just too many changes to list individually here, so make sure to check out this release letter for a big rundown.

In addition:

• When composing Official Notes, you can now set a custom date. By default, the Date field will display the current date, but you can use the calendar picker tool to set a different date. Your customized date will appear with the note on a student’s report card or transcript if you choose to include it.
• In a previous release, we added options for displaying a student’s full or partial Social Security Number in the Student header of Transcripts and Report Cards. Now we have added an informational popover that explains the function.
• When composing Official Notes, you can now set a custom date. By default, the Date field will display the current date, but you can use the calendar picker tool to set a different date.
• Within Requests and schedules, the Classes tab has been renamed Manage classes.
• You can now customize the margin size on grade report and transcript templates. The top, bottom, left, and right margins can be set from .1 to 1.5 inches.
• Schedule Managers and Academic Group Managers can now view, filter, and save lists of Classes. Unlike the previously existing Courses list, which displays courses (for example, English I), the new Classes list displays classes (for example, English I – Section A, English I – Section B, and English I – Section C).
• In a previous release, we added options for displaying a student’s full or partial Social Security Number in the Student header of Transcripts and Grade Reports. Now we have added an informational popover that explains the function.

Core
For July, we wanted to remind users that on October 5, 2021, dashboards for Analysis (SKY Reporting) will no longer appear within the “ON” app under Core, Academics, etc. Instead, you’ll use the Analysis option in the solutions menu and it’ll take you to the Education Area. The solutions menu appears in the top left corner (three, parallel, horizontal lines) and is where you would select to access Core, Academics, etc.
To prepare for this change, ensure users have security group rights and roles to access the Education Area and that they log in with Blackbaud ID. For details, review this article.

Also released this month:

• The List view pattern now can show and hide columns for users viewing Handle Profile changes.
• The handle profile changes export now includes the Persona column.
• When filtering on profile changes, users can now handle changes inside of the filtered view instead of first having to remove them.

Enrollment management
For the Enrollment management team, July was all about Files and Forms. Under Admissions, Admissions setup, platform managers now have access to a new Files and Forms area. Files and forms compiles all files or forms that are uploaded in conjunction with the admissions process and presents them in one, easy to use list. This includes all inquiries, applications, recommendation forms, candidate attachments, and miscellaneous files.

In here, selecting a document brings up all relevant information including new ways to work with them. This includes a Share to Core profile option, View history to see all the changes made, as well as a Delete user data button which can be used individually or in bulk. There’s a ton more to this new feature, so you’ll definitely want to visit our documentation here.

Also this month:

• We’ve updated the username generator to only use the email address.

Billing management
In July, Contracts became available as an option under Lists in the Billing management navigation. This shortcut allows quick and convenient access to the same enrollment contracts found in Enrollment management under Enrollment.

If you want the full and complete details of everything we’ve added to the Education management products in July, make sure to visit our What’s New letter. Use the Recent option at the top of the page to view past and archived releases. Want to stay updated whenever we have a new release? Get notified via email by signing up for our mailing list here.

That’s all for this review. Enjoy your summer and we’ll see you right back here next time. See you then!