Revision history - Smart Software for schools

2.10.88 2009/06/01

In the e-mail system, handling of invalid addresses have been improved, especially for accounts where both parents must receive communication.

2.10.87 2009/05/14

In the SMS system, replies with unusual characters could sometimes be discarded due to a bug in an external component.

2.10.86 2009/04/29

The error that has recently been occurring in the SMS system when receiving replies has been fixed.

2.10.84 2009/04/24

An error occurred in the SAMS export when exporting marks.

2.10.83 2009/04/16

The examination entries export is now compliant with the new file format of the NSC Examination Entries programme. Thanks to Tertia van Tonder (Pretoria High School for Girls) for her sleuthing work, without which this would have taken a LOT longer.

2.10.82 2009/03/18

The SA-SAMS export gave an error for some people - some SAMS databases have StartDate and EndDate fields in the ReportCycles table, other databases don't. Perhaps they changed their table structures without notifying me.

2.10.81 2009/03/16

The SA-SAMS export wasn't handling grade R correctly.

In Setup | Grades, a Phase split option has been added. This can be used to split a subject into two separate codes - one for the FET phase, and one for GET. Schools who use the same subjects codes for multiple phases should use this to split the subjects in preparation for LURITS.

2.10.80 2009/02/16

The e-mail module will now specify the charset encoding as "windows-1252". Some users reported messages appearing in chinese after the message passed through a certain mail server.

In School fees | Invoicing, when invoicing an amount per accout, the program won't invoice inactive accounts, unless indicated.

The pupil absenteeism statistics print-out has been redesigned to adjust to page margins and to match the other print-outs in the program.

The program will now print only a teacher's surname and initials on the substitution lists.

2.10.78 2008/12/05

The Gauteng FET promotion schedules printed incorrect grade averages for non-percentage terms.

2.10.77 2008/12/05

The Limpopo form 76 will now print marks according to the domain of the column.

2.10.76 2008/12/03

The Gauteng progression schedules for grades 9 and below will now print the GDE logo.

The Gauteng promotion schedules for grades 10 - 12 will now print P instead of U for pupils who complied with university endorsement requirements.

2.10.75 2008/12/02

The North-west progression schedules would sometimes print with a very narrow pupil name column, or no pupils on the page at all.

The Limpopo form 74 and 76 schedules wouldn't correctly calculate the width of the name column and the pupils per page.

2.10.74 2008/12/02

An error could occur when deleting an e-mail message.

An error could occur in the report designer when clicking on a property of an object.

2.10.73 2008/12/01

Limpopo's LPE Form E76 has been added to the program, as well as a failure schedule similar to the progression schedule (for grades 7 to 9).

On the reports, grade averages for non-percentage columns will now print according to the domain of the column, instead of as percentages.

2.10.72 2008/11/28

Limpopo's LPE Form 74 has been added to the program.

For Mpumalanga, the Gauteng schedules were copied, but with appropriate headings and logo.

2.10.71 2008/11/26

The changes in the KwaZulu-Natal schedules have been incorporated.

In the Gauteng summary promotion schedule, unentered marks would be filled with other marks, instead of being left blank.

2.10.70 2008/11/26

The Limpopo progression schedules have been added to the program.

2.10.69 2008/11/24

The verdicts for Gauteng promotion schedules for grade 7 and below has been changed to print RP / NRP instead of P / R.

2.10.68 2008/11/17

Since version 2.10.66, an error would occur when saving a grade or deleting a subject.

2.10.67 2008/11/13

Since version 2.10.66, in the marks calculations, an error would occur for grade 7 to 9 when calculating verdicts.

2.10.66 2008/11/06

In the e-mail module, if a message created for a single recipient was forwarded to multiple recipients, the message would not be sent.

2.10.65 2008/11/05

In the e-mail module, SMTP servers which don't support authentication weren't being handled correctly.

In Setup | School info, a bunch of fields relating to the school was added, in preparation for changes to the SAMS / LURITS export functions. Also, in Setup | Grades, when adding or modifying a class in a grade, two fields were added for the same reason.

2.10.64 2008/10/24

The promotions function duplicated all 2008 extra-curricular activities when it should have copied it to 2009.

Some improvements and changes were made to the export to SAMS. More work will be done in order to try to comply with GDE circular 59.

2.10.63 2008/10/17

The property grid in the report designer has been replaced. It should now respond faster, and the problem some users experienced with the grid not refreshing when clicking on an object should now be eliminated.

In Enter marks, while looking at a subject list of marks, you can now click on the Print button (not on the arrow next to it) to print that list.

In Enter marks, the symbol distribution lists now display the symbols from 1 to 7, instead of from 7 to 1.

2.10.61 2008/09/18

The Gauteng schedules would try to print too many pupils on a page if multiple pupils on the page had very long names.

2.10.59 2008/09/09

The Gauteng logo is now printed on the FET schedules, and the last three columns on the Possible failure schedule have been modified to be in line with the current requirements.

2.10.57 2008/07/28

Version 2.10.56 added the ability to print position in grade per subject. This version adds the ability to print the overall position in the grade.

In the SMS and e-mail, you can now send messages to both parents. To do so, change the communication field in the parent's screen to "Both".

2.10.56 2008/07/25

In Enter marks | Lists, you can now print a list of pupils with their positions in the grade. In addition, "Position in grade" is available as a field on the report designer.

2.10.55 2008/07/24

Adding new invoices via the parents' screen could become slower over time if the Invoicing function on the main menu is never used. With this version, after adding one more invoice, the speed should be back to normal.

2.10.54 2008/07/18

The Limpopo schedules have been modified to match LPE Form 29, according to the Assessment Instruction No. 6 of 2008. The other forms described in the circular (E29 and 30) will not be added to the program at this time, but the information required to complete them can be drawn from the program using the various lists already available.

2.10.53 2008/07/15

In the SMS, printing the phonebook could give errors or incorrect results for recipient groups containing pupils.

2.10.52 2008/07/15

In the marks disks, comments with embedded line feeds would import incorrectly from Excel, causing errors when printing subject lists with marks and comments.

2.10.51 2008/06/18

In the marks, an incorrect teacher could be displayed for a pupil's subject if the subject was a class subject, no class list was set up for the subject, and at least one of the pupil's subjects matched a redirection class list (regardless of which subject).

Since the previous version, an error would occur in the Marks disks when importing a disk, if Excel 2002 (or newer?) was used.

2.10.50 2008/06/18

In Marks | Lists, the normal marks list didn't sort by class when that option was selected.

In the Marks disks, when importing a disk, comments longer than 255 characters were being truncated.

2.10.49 2008/06/02

The e-mail module didn't correctly support SMTP login.

2.10.48 2008/05/15

In Enter marks, some of the lists (such as symbol distribution) could give incorrect totals if the underlying data contained subject levels.

2.10.47 2008/05/15

In Pupils | Print | List, errors could occur when printing if the order of fields on the List tab was changed.

2.10.46 2008/04/21

In the extra-curricular activities, you can now print activity lists.

2.10.45 2008/04/18

If a pupil's photo was deleted, the pupil's screen could generate an error when saving.

2.10.44 2008/04/15

In Enter marks, the "Pass statistics per subject" list didn't always read the pass mark correctly.

2.10.43 2008/03/17

In Extra-curricular, you can now print pupil records.

2.10.42 2008/03/12

In the Subject lists, redirection lists for selected classes didn't handle the indicated classes correctly. The effect was that no pupils would appear in enter marks.

In the School fees, the description field has been changed to a drop-down combobox throughout, which shows a list of all existing descriptions. Hopefully this will cut down on spelling mistakes.

2.10.41 2008/03/07

In the School fees menu there is a new button - School info. It contains fields for information that must be printed on deposit slips and receipts. The left and right text blocks for the receipts print just below the heading. Furthermore, the receipt layout has been adjusted to look a bit neater.

In the Reports, you can now include the title in the Register teacher field.

2.10.40 2008/03/05

In the Promotions, comments were being copied from all previous years, not just the year being promoted from.

In the Reports, report layouts are now separated by year.

2.10.39 2008/02/26

In the Stock module, the reference field wasn't being saved correctly.

2.10.38 2008/02/26

The Marks disks function has been redesigned. You can now choose which columns to export and import.

2.10.37 2008/02/15

In the pupil register (absenteeism), when viewing pupil totals, you can now choose between all entries, entries with reasons, or entries without reasons.

The dll files for the new backup/restore function has been renamed to prevent conflicts with other applications. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but you'll need to reinstall the update or zipdll file on each computer.

2.10.36 2008/02/12

A few vulnerabilities which could have caused errors have been fixed in the new backup/restore function.

PLEASE NOTE: in order for the new backup/restore function to work correctly, you must install the update on each computer, not just on the server.

2.10.35 2008/02/11

The backup/restore function has been redesigned and rewritten. The program no longer requires or uses Winzip to handle zip files, since the functionality is now built in.

2.10.34 2008/02/07

In the SMS system, an error would occur when a reply was deleted from the deleted items list. Also, deleting was very slow for large numbers of messages.

2.10.33 2008/02/05

In the timetable, the highlight room list has been sorted.

In the staff register, when you go to substitution, you can now print the list of classes requiring substitution during the day.

2.10.32 2008/01/14

In the e-mail program, the timeout period for checking the validity of a recipient was increased.

2.10.31 2008/01/08

An import and export function has been added for Pencilbox. This function allows Pencilbox users to import their subjects, pupils and staff into Smart for the purpose of building a timetable, after which the key subjects and class lists can be exported back to Pencilbox.

2.10.30 2007/12/03

The examination entries export wasn't reading grade 10 and 11 subjects correctly.

2.10.28 2007/11/30

On the transfer cards, the program won't print the last grade passed for pupils who haven't passed a grade in your school yet.

2.10.27 2007/11/27

In the Gauteng schedules for grades 9 and below, long names that wrap to a second line wouldn't always increase the line height.

2.10.26 2007/11/23

Further changes to the North-west schedules.

2.10.25 2007/11/21

Headings on the Summary promotion schedule have been corrected.

2.10.24 2007/11/19

All necessary modifications to the Gauteng schedules have been made, as far as I know. Summary statistics as required by many districts, and any other district-specific requirements, will NOT be added.

All necessary modifications to the North-west schedules have been made, as far as I know.

2.10.23 2007/11/02

In the marks schedules, the promotion schedule layout for the North-West province has been added.

In the reports, page layout and margin settings weren't being handled correctly.

2.10.21 2007/10/17

In the e-mail, the timeout settings for communication with the server during sending has been increased to 30 seconds.

A Lock button has been added to the report designer. If you lock a report design, you can still modify attributes of objects on the page, but not move or resize anything. This should prevent accidental changes, especially for users without superhuman dexterity.

In the stock, an error would occur when editing stock items if the acquiry method wasn't filled in.

2.10.20 2007/10/02

The possible failure schedules would print the first subject's marks on top of the term column if more than one term of marks was selected.

2.10.18 2007/09/21

Gauteng's possible retention schedule for grades 8 and 9 has been added.

For the last few versions, an error would occur when printing reports for multiple selected pupils.

2.10.17 2007/09/17

Version 2.10.16 would generate an error when printing reports.

2.10.16 2007/09/13

In the E-mail module, e-mail addresses containing hyphens weren't recognized.

2.10.15 2007/09/06

In the E-mail module, invalid addresses are now checked against the SMTP server itself. In addition, messages with numerous recipients will now be split up into batches of 20 (the number can be adjusted in the e-mail settings).

2.10.14 2007/08/30

In the E-mail module, invalid addresses are now detected and handled more effectively.

A preliminary export to Edusol SAMS has been added.

2.10.13 2007/08/29

In the E-mail module, some users were unable to send out e-mail.

Also in the E-mail module, an option was added to the Settings screen: validate e-mail addresses with DNS. Activating this option will slow down the sending of messages, but it enables the program to handle messages with invalid recipient addresses. Deactivating the option speeds up sending, but an invalid recipient address in a message can cause the entire message to be retained.

2.10.12 2007/08/23

In the Stock module, printing a stock register could produce an error.

2.10.11 2007/08/17

In the Pupils' screen, a new option was added to the Tools menu: Subject clashes. This option will display the number (and list) of pupils with various combinations of subjects, and you can print out both the grid and lists. This replaces the similar but less functional option in the Exam timetable.

2.10.10 2007/07/26

In Enter marks, the row and column highlights added in the previous version caused scrolling on the marks lists to get stuck near the end of the page.

The calculation of verdicts for immigrants in grade 7 to 9 works again.

2.10.09 2007/07/20

In Marks | Columns, you can now again activate condoning for grades 7-9.

In the version 2.10.08, in the calculation of verdicts for grades 10 and 11, learners with more than three subjects at or above 40% would usually be failed.

2.10.08 2007/07/19

In the calculation of verdicts for grades 10 and 11, learners with 40% for their home language, 40% for two other subjects, and one other subject on 30% were incorrectly passed.

In Setup | Users, the list now displays each user's role, and you can sort the list by clicking on the column headings.

In Enter Marks, when editing marks the current row and column is highlighted.

In the class lists, you can now print class lists with marks and comments.

2.10.07 2007/06/22

In the verdicts setup of the marks, some role assignments could get lost for subjects with many roles.

In the pupils' contact info list, the pupil's cell number has been added and emergency contact info can now be included.

In the pupils' birthday list, nicknames have been added.

2.10.06 2007/06/14

In the SMS, an error would occur when receiving replies longer than 160 characters.

2.10.05 2007/06/13

In the e-mail, an error could occur when replying to or forwarding a message without attachments.

Since the previous version, the marks in each pupil's screen hasn't been displaying.

2.10.04 2007/06/11

In the marks, the university requirements for FET (currently grade 10 and 11) have been incorporated. Also, since version 2.10.02, the program would calculate Fail for almost every pupil in these grades - this has been corrected.

In the parents, you can now select the parent for communication separately from the liable parent. Note that both the SMS and E-mail modules have been adjusted to use this field.

Also in the parents, 'Separated' has been added as a relationship.

In the SMS, you can now send conduct or absenteeism notifications per grade or class.

In the E-mail, an error could occur when sending e-mail, if the message had no valid recipients.

In the rooms setup, adding a room would allocate that room to all staff without a room.

In the conduct, you can now print lists of recent conduct.

2.10.03 2007/06/05

In the conduct, you can now select whether a specific conduct should be included when sending SMS notifications.

In the conduct points list, trying to view or print a list of all pupils with exactly 0 points in a specific column didn't work.

In the SMS, you can now include the field <TEACHER> or <ONDERWYSER> in the conduct template.

2.10.02 2007/05/31

In the e-mail module, trying to send a message containing a recipient whose address specified an invalid domain would cause the entire message to fail to send. The program now verifies recipients (which may take some time) and leaves those with invalid addresses in the outbox, instead of trying to send them.

In the marks, a new list is available: symbol distribution by sex.

Also in the marks, the new promotion requirements for grade 10 and 11 (according to government gazette 29851 of 30 April 2007) has been implemented.

2.10.01 2007/05/29

In the pupil conduct, you can now enter percentages for the points of a conduct definition. For example, if you define a new conduct with -50% as the points, when allocating that conduct to a pupil, it will decrease the pupil's total by 50%.

In the pupil conduct, you can now allocate conduct to pupils by total. For example, you could subtract a percentage from all pupils who haven't lost points in the last two months.

In the pupil register, when viewing the absenteeism for a pupil, only the current year's dates will be displayed.

In the pupil absenteeism totals, you can now choose to include or exclude entries with reasons.

2.10.00 2007/05/25

A new module has been added: e-mail!