Product updates | October 2023

We’re thrilled to introduce a new set of features and enhancements specifically designed to upgrade your Classter journey.
Over the past few months, our dedicated team has focused on introducing innovative features but also on enhancing the stability of our platform.
Your insightful feedback is important in this journey, and we’re confident that these updates will deliver a smoother and richer user experience.

Core Module

New Features & Enhancements

For Staff and Administration

• Location-Based Filtering: Easily filter all data grids and lists by the location of your employees. Ideal for multi-campus institutions.
• Teacher Specialization: Now you can limit teachers enrollments based on their field of expertise.
• Status Change Notifications: Automate messages to specific users, like parents or administrators, when a student’s status changes (e.g., from ‘Enrolled’ to ‘Graduated’).

For All Users

• File Streaming Support: Safely stream and store files using the new advanced file stream Classter services. 

Usability & Experience Enhancements

For All Users

• Accent-Free Quick Search: Now you can find students without worrying about accents in their names. This is especially handy for languages like Spanish and Greek. (Note: This is a customer-requested feature and is not yet universally applied.)
• Customizable Calendar View: Choose how you want to view your dashboard calendar: by month, week, or day. Set your preference in your user profile settings.

For Staff and Administration

• Streamlined Student Previews: All lists and grids featuring students now have a standardized quick-view popup, similar to what you see in quick search.
• Student Re-Enrollment Editor: A new form makes it easier to manage and update a student’s re-registration status.
• Enhanced Relative Information: We’ve improved the UI for entering and viewing contact information for students’ relatives.
• Clarified Unenrollment Messages: Removing services from students in the “Students Per Services” view now provides a clearer message.
• CRM Student-Parent Selector: When adding CRM remarks, you’ll now see parent names listed next to student names if available.
• Easier Subject Planning: Save your plans for subjects without having to save the entire subject record.

Grid Updates

• Students Per Enrollments: A new list helps you manage students based on their enrollment statuses.
• Group Management: Our new column chooser and bulk export features simplify managing large groups of students.
• Educational Program Filter: You can now filter students based on the end date of their educational program.

New Tools & Minor Features

• Holiday Synchronization: Easily copy holidays to other academic periods or institutes with a few clicks.
• Student Transfers: When moving students from one period to another, a new feature lists those who can’t be transferred and explains why.
• Duplicate Relative Checker: Avoid duplication by checking for existing relatives using full name or VAT ID/ID Number when entering new information.

Student Form Enhancements

• Mandatory Birthdate: New setting to require the date of birth when filling out a student form.
• Guardian Requirement: Another setting mandates the input of a guardian’s details before saving a student record.
• Expanded Custom Fields: Text limit for student custom fields has been increased to 250 characters.

Service Management

• Unique Service Names: You are now prohibited from creating a service with a name that already exists.
• PDF-only Report Exports: Reports can now only be exported in PDF format, enhancing document control.

Specialized for Higher Education

• Educator-Focused Subject View: Educators will not see ‘Educational Program details’ in their ‘My Subject’ view.
• Educational Program Visibility: Programs with statuses other than ‘Registered’ will not show up in student or parent portals.

Consent Management

• Conditional Consents: Choose who (parent or student) should answer a consent form when the student’s date of birth is not provided.

Alumni Portal

• Classmates Feature: Notable improvements have been made to help alumni stay connected.

Educational Program Logging

• Pricing Category: The pricing category field will also be logged for future reference.

Automation Features

• Automated Educational Program End Date: The system now sets this date automatically based on either a fixed number of days/weeks or the associated educational program category.

Bulk Imports/Updates

• Global Registration Number: Update or import student data using their unique “Global Registration Number” as the key field.
• Status Transition: Revamped user experience for changing student statuses, complete with role privilege settings.
• Bulk Status Change: Now, you can bulk-change statuses with a redesigned user interface and added Role Privilege settings.

User Cards

• Parents Cards Enabled: Now parents have their own user cards, making it easier to manage their interactions within the system.
• Auto-Generated Cards: Cards are now automatically created for all new entities including Students, Teachers, and Parents.
• Mobile Access for Parents Cards: Parents can now view their cards via their mobile devices.
• Card Re-Issuing Privileges: Control which employees have the ability to re-issue cards with a new privilege setting.
• Email Cards: The system can now email Student Cards directly to the user.

Performance

• Searchable Student Custom Drop Downs: Introducing a searchable feature for drop-downs or lookup fields with a large number of rows for easier navigation.
• Group List Refactoring: A structural revamp enhances performance and usability.
• Limitation on Active Columns in All Grids: Active columns in all grids are now capped at 25 to improve user experience.
• Enhanced Arrangement History Filters: Newly added filters for Location and Student allow better customization of the Arrangement History grid.
• Application Creation/Editing Simplified: A revamped process for a smoother user experience.
• Selective Message Recipient Viewing: View the list of multiple message recipients only upon clicking, for a cleaner interface.

Academic Module

Timetable

• Customizable Timetable Import: Decide if consecutive slots for the same Group/Subject/Teacher are combined into one timetable lesson or kept separate.
• Focused Group Display: The timetable now shows only Groups that have timetable entries, reducing clutter.

Assessments

• Backoffice Feature for Returned Work: A new feature allows the recording of returned student work in the back office.
• Integrated Assessment Mark Transfers: A new methodology allows easy transfer of marks from platforms like Google Classroom, Moodle, and MS Teams.
• Timely Exam and Assessment Notifications: A notification service keeps students informed about upcoming exams and assessments.
• Enhanced Assessment Editing:
  • Change of type is now managed more efficiently.
  
  
  • New option to delete all marks & submissions for a fresh start on an assessment.

Attendance

• Enhanced Attendance Grids: New column selectors, mass export capabilities, and service attendance features make attendance management easier than ever.
• Advanced Service Attendance Settings: Define which morning absences appear as potential absences in the service attendance grid. Settings are configurable by attendance category.
• Bus/Route Exception Clarity: Get better information about exceptions in student transportation while taking attendance.
• Parental Attendance View: Parents can now see attendance percentages through the mobile app, keeping them informed.

Gradebook

• Exclusion of Below-Pass Marks: Assessments or criteria falling below the pass mark are displayed but not included in any average or summary calculation.
• Attendance-Populated Criteria: Create marking scenarios where a criterion is directly influenced by attendance percentages.
• Visibility Control for Deleted Students: Choose to either present or hide students with “Delete” status in the Gradebook list.

Annual Results

• Bulk Export for Certifications/Awards: Streamline the process of distributing certificates and awards with bulk export options.
• Location-Specific Certification Numbers/Codes: Support for different identification numbers or codes for certifications and awards per location.
• Reregistration Control: Ability to disable the “Reregistration / Continue next year” option for specific promoted codes in the annual results.
• Customizable Academic Progress View: Settings allow you to define which columns are visible in the Annual Results view within the Student Form / Student Academic Progress.
• New GPA Calculation for U.S. K-12 Schools: A more localized GPA calculation method has been introduced for American K-12 schools.

Various

• Employee-Only Analysis Views: In Employee Portal, gain the ability to select non-registered students in various analysis views, including Attendance Analysis, Assessment Analysis, Mark Analysis, Descriptive Mark Analysis, and Session or Daily Mark Analysis.

CRM & Messaging Module

CRM

• Customizable Categories: You can now add custom fields to your CRM categories for more detailed data capture.
• User-Friendly CRM Category Configuration: The CRM Category configuration form has been redesigned for easier use.
• File Upload in CRM Requests: Parents and students can now upload files when making CRM requests, streamlining documentation and record-keeping.

Messaging

Message Center Enhancements

• Dashboard Notification Update: Improved the functionality of the icon indicating the number of unread messages for better user experience.
• Message Filters: Sort your messages by the importance flag, helping you prioritize your communications.
• Message Logging: Features like showing the sender in bulk emails and a filter for system notifications enhance your message management capabilities.
• Message Preview Options: New actions like “Mark as Read/Unread,” “Move to Folder,” and “Flag” help you organize your inbox better.
• Attachment-Only Preview: You can now preview messages that contain only an attachment, making file management easier.
• UI Change: Updates to the message information interface improve user interactions.

Other Updates

• Recipient Selection: A new dropdown field for recipient selection when creating a new message simplifies user selection.
• Parent-Child Association: Messages between parents and educators will show the name of the associated child for context.
• Static Files in Templates: Add static files in your message templates and send them as either links (if using mail merge) or attachments.
• Group Messaging: Enhanced options when educators or employees are messaging a group (students, educators, or academic contacts).
• Recipient Type Multiselect: Sending messages to a group now supports multiselect for recipient types, allowing for more targeted communications.
• Conversation or Flat View: Choose how to view your messages—either as threaded conversations or individual messages.
• Draft Messages: Save unfinished messages as drafts to be completed later.
• Parent-Specific Messaging: Now you can send messages or SMS to only the father or mother of a student.
• Email with Templates (Mail Merging): The attachment size limit is 2MB.
• Simple Email: The size limit for attachments in simple, non-template emails is increased to 10MB.

Billing Module

Transaction Management

• Bulk Export: Export multiple transaction records at once for easier data management.
• Transaction Preview: You can now view transactions from other academic periods, giving you a comprehensive financial history.
• Advanced Filters: Search transactions using new filters like User, Payer, Arrangement Name, or Global Registration Number for more targeted results.
• Enhanced Columns: New columns like Student Location, Global Registration Number, and ID Number help you sort and identify transactions better.
• Column Sorting: Many columns now support sorting to help you find what you need faster.
• Grouping Views: Organize transaction data by various categories such as Series, Bank, Payment Method, or Payer.
• Group/Page Sums: Summaries are available for each grouped category and page for quick financial overview.

Student Financial Card Improvements:

• Tooltip for Unconnected Transactions: Helpful tooltips will appear for transactions not connected to agreements.
• Transaction Details: A new column in Financial Data provides more detailed information on each transaction.
• View Caching: Your selected view in Financial Data will be remembered for next time.
• Recent Periods First: The most recent academic periods will be displayed at the top for easier navigation.
• Payment Method Change: You can now easily change the payment method for transactions.
• Reason Column: The reason column has been resized for better visibility.

Other improvements:

• Multiple Prepayments: Agreement plans now support multiple prepayments with a fixed amount.
• Last CRM Remark: The last financial CRM remark or action for each student will be presented for context.
• Pricing Category Auto-Selection: Automatically select the pricing category for an educational program based on the Grade, Stream, or Educational Program Category.
• Payer’s Relationship: All financial grids will show the payer’s relationship to the student next to the payer’s name for clarity.
• Subject-Based Billing: Bill subjects per Academic Period, Hour, or even by Credit (new feature).
• Delete Standing Orders: You now have the flexibility to delete a standing order and any future payment commands.
• Transaction Printout Settings: Define who receives a transaction printout – either the payer listed in the student card or the payer selected in the transaction.
• Financial Agreement Requirement: Students cannot be registered unless they have a valid financial agreement in place.

Admission Module

Application Management:

• Handler Improvements: Auto-filters will only display applications that a particular user is responsible for handling.
• Role Privileges: Define who can see what applications based on their user roles.
• Priority Editing: Modify the priority level of applications on a per-student basis for targeted admission efforts.

Admission Portal:

• Start Date Selection: Applicants can now select the start date for their educational program during the application process.
• Financial Tab:
  • Payer Selection: Enhanced UI/UX for choosing a payer, including improvements for entering companies as payers.
  • Price List Filters: Price lists displayed to parents will differ based on their existing relationship with the school.
  • Discounts: Available discounts can be selected by the applicant based on their Pricing Category.
• Payment Process: Refactored process for finalizing an application, accepting an offer, and asking for re-registration or period transfer.
• Standing Orders: If this feature is enabled, quick admissions will allow the creation of a standing order for payment.

Online Enrollment:

• Classifications: Filter available classifications based on student grades during online enrollments.
• Multiple Periods: Support for multiple active periods for online enrollment is now available.
• UI/UX Tweaks: Small improvements such as a ‘Next’ button and additional informational links for courses and services.

Re-Registration Process:

• Prepayment: Enable the option for prepayment as part of the re-registration process.

Signup and Quick Admission Form:

• Duplicate Checks: The system will check student emails against external providers to prevent duplicate registrations.
• HTTP Parameter: Enables the posting of user email as an HTTP parameter during the signup or quick admission process.

Various:

• Message Templates: The {Educational Program Category} field can now be added to all templates in the Admission module.

Surveys & Quizzes

• Targeted Distribution: Admins can now distribute surveys based on the student’s enrolled subject and their teacher.
• Bulk Distribution: Distribute quizzes in bulk, with the system asking for start and end dates for distribution.

Mobile Features

• Present ID: Present QR codes as identification cards for parents, students, and teachers to get presents.
• QR Code Verification: User verification through QR code scanning.
• Attendance Scanning: Use QR code scanning for quick attendance marking.
• Central Announcements: Broadcast announcements to all mobile app users in real-time.

Library Management

• Lending Oversight: Filter students based on delayed returns or damaged returned books.
• Custom Return Dates: Define a universal, specific returned date for all library materials.
• Flexible Settings: The suggested return date for books is now a library-specific setting, not global.
• Bulk Returns: Execute mass book returns, presented in scanning time order for easier processing.
• Book Metadata: New field “position in the area” added in book preview.

Transportation

• Bulk Exception Entry: Quickly input multiple route exceptions at once.
• Customizable Views: Columns in the list of exceptions can now be managed and reordered.
• Address Details: Daily route check-ins/outs now show student area field next to the address.

New Modules

• Classter Signature: Allows for digital processes where documents are sent for signature to various users like students or parents. The digital signature gets stored and embedded in the document within Classter.
• Classter LegalSign: This white-label solution integrates with Classter, enabling users to sign contracts, documents, and transactions via the LegalSign platform.

Apprenticeships & Jobs

• UX Refinements: Minor user experience enhancements for smoother navigation and usage.
• Attendance Locking: Employers are now restricted from altering attendance records once they have been approved, a privilege-based feature.
• Multi-Institution View: The apprenticeships enrollment list can now display students from multiple institutions and allows for filtering by Student ID Number.
• Attendance Status Reversal: If a job attendance status is changed from Approved back to Pending, the attendance approval date will also be updated.
• Future Date Restriction: A new privilege that prevents employers from approving job attendance for future dates.

Integrations

• Zoom API: Support for the new Zoom API has been added.
• Moodle Enhancements: Disable the feature that assigns an end date to Moodle subjects.
• MS Teams Management: Archiving Microsoft Teams is now possible directly from Classter.
• SDS Zip Download: Users can now download SDS Zip files through Classter.
• HubSpot Configuration: A setting has been added to disable the creation or updating of educational programs as deals in HubSpot, based on Global Code or Start Date.

Consumer API

• New Calls: Several new API calls have been added to extend functionality and integration capabilities.