Release 9.7

17 Oct 2018

Major features

New login and security screens

The entire login process (OD-11935) and the security preferences (OD-11936) have been rebuilt using our new user interface. Users might notice several things:

  • the new design

  • a reminder to set two factor authentication

  • a prompt to change their password if it's considered of low quality

Although we've had two factor one-time-passwords (OTP) for about five years, few people have used it. Yes, it's slightly less convenient, but it does improve security by a huge amount, so onCourse will start nagging you to turn it on at every launch. You can still ignore these requests, but the administrator can enforce an OTP policy in the new security settings. The administrator can also increase the threshold of what we consider a rubbish password, forcing users to change to a better one.

Special interests in data collection

With mailing lists being removed from onCourse (everyone is using more specialised advanced tools like Mailchimp), we've repurposed the old functionality into 'special interests' OD-11833. This means that you can now add Contact tags into data collection rules and make them part of the questions you ask during enrolment, applications or waiting lists.

For example, you might like a set of checkboxes whenever someone adds themselves to a waiting list

Other than this course, what other areas of training are you interested in:
[ ] leisure courses
[ ] languages
[ ] computer courses

Or, ask specific questions about experience, work history or profession as part of the enrolments process. Any set of Contact tags in onCourse can now be entered by students directly if you choose to make them part of a Data Collection rule.

Reports and scripts

  • Smart & Skilled reporting 85 - Not Yet Started and TNC for Did Not Start outcome results. This has been in place since version 9.6 OD-11982

  • Update contact CSV export to include the standard working with children check fields OD-11793

Minor features

  • Added script to send birthday gift email OD-11746

  • Added link to manual to question mark help icon within preferences OD-11917

  • New generic import to change subscription to marketing materials permissions, per user OD-11962

  • Deprecate id methods in the DSL. You should rarely be using the record ids directly in an onCourse script and we've now removed them from the documentation. They will still work for now. OD-12018

  • Certificate expiry. You can now add an expiry date to a certificate record. Although VET certificates don't expire according to the standard, there are many cases where other bodies require regular recertification such as First Aid. OD-12031

  • Add to class duplication: optionally skip copying of class tags and class notes OD-7475

  • Link a manual invoice to an enrolment OD-8284

Fixes

  • Fixed small error that caused Special Smart & Skilled and SkillsTAS NAT00130 rules to no longer apply OD-11753

  • Fixed where no 'from' email address was defined in default script 'send product purchased email' OD-11928

  • Fixed handling of single name students in AVETMISS 8 NAT00080 files OD-11950

  • Fixed issue where users couldn't add VET modules to course on OS X webstart with Java 10 OD-11997

  • Fixed the scrolling bug in Class Attendance tab OD-12004

  • Fixed an issue where the COS account wasn't appearing in Invoice Detail as expected OD-12005

  • Fixed an issue where sessions information for class records were being saved before sessions were added OD-12014

  • Fixed an issue where the Attendance screen didn't line up OD-12042

  • Fixed an issue where users could no longer mark Attendance by the column OD-12043

Web features

  • The Google Maps implementation has been reworked to load less often, reducing traffic and cost to the google map servers.