Asentia Release 1.13

Release Date: July 29, 2018

New Features:

• Added integration with OpenSesame course marketplace.
• Added the ability to merge user accounts.
• Added the ability to assign more than one instructor to an ILT session.
• Added the ability to create “shortcodes” for linking directly to courses, learning paths, and ILTs in the Catalog.
• Added the ability to “create new users only” (ignore existing users) when performing a user batch upload.
• Added the ability to manually edit the manifest of a content package.
• Added the ability to create ILT-specific email notifications.
• Separated ILT session “waitlist” events from “enrolled” events, allowing for different email notifications to be sent for “waitlist” and “enrolled” users.
• Added “session_instructorfullname” placeholder to ILT session email notifications to allow instructor name(s) to be included in ILT session email notifications.
• Added certificates listing to the catalog details page for a course that will show all certificates associated with the course.

Changes:

• Modified ILT sessions so that a session can be created in the past.
• Removed “Module Data Recovery” options from account settings. The Asentia SCORM API now recovers all orphaned data automatically upon the learner exiting the SCO.

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed a bug affecting the sorting of sent email notification logs.
• Fixed a bug where unconnected flow lines were being shown on the administrator menu for users who did not have permissions to all menu options.
• Fixed a bug that was causing enrollment marked as completed by an administrator to rollback to an incomplete status.
• Fixed a bug where tooltips for grid navigation buttons would remain on screen after page change.
• Fixed a bug where an impersonated user would still appear to be “online” after the impersonating user reverted the active login to their own account.
• Fixed a bug where the “Pending User Registration” widget could not be turned on in some portals.

On May 25^th, 2018 the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect. If you are located within or provide service or store data for any users located within the European Union, then you are subject to the GDPR requirements. Below, we’ll review some key points of the GDPR that you need to know and how our software can help you comply.

Note that the GDPR is not technical in nature – it does not regulate firewalls, encryption, security, or other technical aspects of our software or networks, but rather organizational, defining requirements for disclosure and transparency that you (the “controller” of the users’ data) must communicate to your users about what data you collect from them and how you will (or will not) use it. In short, GDPR is a regulation for you; while we provide the functionality within the software that will allow you to meet the GDPR requirements related to those areas that the software deals with.

While all the following features are available or soon to be within our software, this is not legal advice and we cannot answer questions regarding GDPR and your business; your own legal counsel is the only appropriate source for advice for your specific situation regarding your compliance with GDPR.

Consent to Process Users’ Data

Under Article 6, you need a “lawful basis” to process a user’s data. Lawful basis can be established by receiving the user’s consent, therefore you should use the “User Agreement” feature. In accordance with GDPR, describe what data you’re collecting from the user and what you plan to do with it along with the other GDPR disclosures that may be required here (such as contact information for data deletion or corrections). It would be best to consult with your legal counsel to review the GDPR requirements and determine everything that you will need to include here to be compliant.

Shortly, a new feature will be available that, if you choose to activate it, will force users who have not self-registered (those that were created by administrators or imported from data files or Active Directory) to accept the User Agreement upon their first login to the software.

Special Types of Data

Article 9 defines special categories of data that come with additional requirements for you, as the controller and additionally us as the processor (in certain cases). Special categories include racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade-union membership, genetic data, biometric data, health data or any data concerning a user’s sex-life or sexual orientation.

Because these special categories are not related to learning or content mastery, we will soon be removing from the software any user fields that collect this information and shall not allow any user-defined fields to be created that attempt to collect it.

Right to Deletion

Under Article 17, users have the right to erasure (“right to be forgotten”). Should a user request that they be deleted, simply delete their user account and all records related to that user are permanently deleted.

Be sure that you have provided users with appropriate contact information where they can request deletion of their data. Typically, this would be in the User Agreement mentioned earlier.

Shortly, a new feature will be added that you can activate that will allow users to delete themselves. If you do not need to comply with GDPR or would rather users contact you for deletion, you may leave this feature turned off.

Questions/Concerns

If you have any questions regarding these features or others that may be required to comply with GDPR, please contact our Support Staff by visiting http://support.icslearninggroup.com and submitting a support ticket.

Improvements to the Asentia LMS are on the way!

We will be making some updates and improvements to Asentia this month, and it will require some downtime. Asentia will be down on Sunday May 13th, 2018 for about 2 hours starting at 8:00pm EST. Here is what you have to look forward to after we push this update:

New Features:

• Added the ability to restrict portal access to certain IP addresses.
• Added redundancy to SCORM API data saving procedures to reduce and mitigate issues when client-side errors occur.
• Added event email notification type for “New Moderated Message” to allow discussion moderators to receive an alert when a new message has been posted for moderation.
• Added the ability to prevent a user from logging into the system via the LMS’s log in form. This is intended to be used when a portal uses single sign-on and wishes for that to be the only method for the user to log in.
• Added the ability to view detailed information about a sent email notification through the system email log.
• Added the ability for a lesson to retrieve extended user profile data through the LMS SCORM API. Note that this requires a lesson to be specifically programmed to retrieve the data.
• Added “long description” and “objectives” fields to ILT modules.
• Added the ability to report on certificates attached to courses through the Course and Catalog Information dataset.

Changes:

• Modified SCORM package upload verification to warn the administrator when a SCORM package’s manifest doesn’t meet SCORM specification 100%, and to only fail on manifest errors that would prevent a package from running at all.
• Modified the Administrator Menu to open on click, instead of hover.
• Modified user batch data validation so that in addition to validating against global rules and constraints, it will also validate to constraints configured within a portal’s “User Field Configuration”
• Modified the WYSIWYG editor used for the Asentia home page editor, and object description fields to apply Asentia CSS styling so that objects in the editor appear more closely to how they will appear when displayed in Asentia pages.
• Modified some aspects of the backend rules engine, and reporting engine to speed up those processes.

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed a bug where single quote characters in reporting filters were causing a failure in report generation.
• Fixed a bug where a learning path’s due date was not being displayed when viewed through the user’s enrollments page.
• Fixed an issue where drop-down fields configured through User Field Configuration were not displaying items alphabetically when “Sort choices alphabetically when displaying” was checked.
• Fixed an issue where the Award Certificate popup was displaying certificates that have been marked as deleted.

If you have any questions or concerns, please submit a ticket at http://support.icslearninggroup.com. Thank you for your patience as we work to improve your experience with our products!

Inquisiq Release 5.1.18.0

Released April 30^th 2018

Changes:

• Changed Authorize.net integration method from deprecated DPM method to Accept.js method.
• Changed the way content is stored and handled to prevent course launch outside of the LMS.

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed an issue where the use of the Forgot Password link was causing user profile data to be cleared.
• Fixed an issue where the system was attempting to grant certificates for courses that did not have certificates, and therefore throwing errors.
• Fixed an issue where certificates that were awarded through activity data imports were not correctly attributed to the person who uploaded the activity data.
• Fixed an issue where a portal’s global non-HTTPS forward to HTTPS process was re-directing without forwarding the data. The global non-HTTPS to HTTPS will now be bypassed for API calls and properly utilize the API setting for allowing HTTP or HTTPS.
• Fixed an issue with certificate data imports where multiple rows for the same user and same course codes with different timestamps threw an error, and the error was displayed incorrectly.
• Fixed an issue where the user’s My Account page’s Progress analytic counted enrollments that had not started yet as a result of recurring enrollments that were to create future enrollments.
• Fixed issues with translations of conclusion slides and “Submit” and “Done” buttons in lessons created in the built-in quiz/survey authoring tool.
• Fixed an issue where the enrollment expiration dates were not appearing under the Learning Activities section of the user’s My Account page.
• Fixed an issue where coupon codes that applied to specific catalogs were not working.
• Fixed an issue where the last column on the User Batch page was listed as AW, when the last column in the batch upload is actually AS.
• Fixed an issue where hovering over an expired enrollment’s Go button showed an untranslated tag.
• Fixed an issue where new users created by the administrator using the New User button are initially unable to be impersonated.
• Fixed an issue where the Access Period on the course launch page was listed incorrectly.
• Fixed an issue where profile records of Supervisors whose profiles had been deleted were not being cleared from their supervisee’s profiles.
• Fixed an issue with printing certificates in the Microsoft Edge browser.

(If you are utilizing an ICS-hosted or on-premises Inquisiq solution, you may disregard this message.)

Hello Inquisiq SaaS Clients!

The latest version of Inquisiq will now handle courses in a more secure fashion to ensure that your courses may only be accessed by your users logged in to your system. To implement this change, along with several other improvements, all Inquisiq SaaS portals will be down and inaccessible from Sunday, April 29^th at 8:00 PM EST to Monday, April 30^th at 12:00 AM EST (4 hours of downtime).

QUICKNOTES:

• Inquisiq SaaS will be down from Sunday, April 29^th 8:00 PM EST thru Monday, April 30^th 12:00 AM EST
• This update fixes several issues and improves the way courses are handled on the back-end. This change will not affect the way that you upload and publish content. Your processes will stay the same, and everything from your perspective will still look and feel the same.
• After the downtime, if you use Authorize.net to sell courses, update your E-commerce Processing Method to “Authorize.NET (Accept.js)”
• Update to the new “Sweet” Theme for mobile responsiveness, improved workflows, less clicks, and less/shorter page-load times!

Here are some more detailed notes on what to expect after the downtime.

CHANGES/BUG FIXES

Several of these fixes have already been implemented and are already live on your system, but here are all of the changes and fixes between the first release of this version of Inquisiq, version 5.0.17.1, to the latest version, 5.1.18.0, which will be pushed April 29^th:

Changes:

• Changed Authorize.net integration method from deprecated DPM method to Accept.js method.
• Changed the way content is stored and handled to prevent course launch outside of the LMS.

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed an issue where the use of the Forgot Password link was causing user profile data to be cleared.
• Fixed an issue where the system was attempting to grant certificates for courses that did not have certificates, and therefore throwing errors.
• Fixed an issue where certificates that were awarded through activity data imports were not correctly attributed to the person who uploaded the activity data.
• Fixed an issue where a portal’s global non-HTTPS forward to HTTPS process was re-directing without forwarding the data. The global non-HTTPS to HTTPS will now be bypassed for API calls and properly utilize the API setting for allowing HTTP or HTTPS.
• Fixed an issue with certificate data imports where multiple rows for the same user and same course codes with different timestamps threw an error, and the error was displayed incorrectly.
• Fixed an issue where the user’s My Account page’s Progress analytic counted enrollments that had not started yet as a result of recurring enrollments that were to create future enrollments.
• Fixed issues with translations of conclusion slides and “Submit” and “Done” buttons in lessons created in the built-in quiz/survey authoring tool.
• Fixed an issue where the enrollment expiration dates were not appearing under the Learning Activities section of the user’s My Account page.
• Fixed an issue where coupon codes that applied to specific catalogs were not working.
• Fixed an issue where the last column on the User Batch page was listed as AW, when the last column in the batch upload is actually AS.
• Fixed an issue where hovering over an expired enrollment’s Go button showed an untranslated tag.
• Fixed an issue where new users created by the administrator using the New User button are initially unable to be impersonated.
• Fixed an issue where the Access Period on the course launch page was listed incorrectly.
• Fixed an issue where profile records of Supervisors whose profiles had been deleted were not being cleared from their supervisee’s profiles.
• Fixed an issue with printing certificates in the Microsoft Edge browser.

AUTHORIZE.NET CHANGE

Authorize.net is in the process of deprecating the DPM integration method, in favor of Accept.js, a JavaScript-based solution for sending secure payment data directly to Authorize.net. They will soon be announcing an official end-of-life timeline for the DPM method. In preparation for this, we have already switched Inquisiq to the new Accept.js method.

If your e-commerce feature is currently utilizing the Authorize.net (DPM) processing method, after the down-time this weekend, you will need to change the method to Accept.js. From your Administrator Menu, click E-Commerce, and from the “Processing Method” drop-down, select “Authorize.NET (Accept.js)”, re-enter your account information, click “Save Changes,” and if the status does not say “Verified,” check your account information, and click “Save Changes” again.

THEMES

Controlled only by ICS Support Staff in previous versions of the software, the concept of interface-controlled Themes was introduced in Inquisiq version 5.0.17.1, and it will carry over in this update. There are two Themes (or layouts) that will no longer be supported after this update: 2014 and Classic.

If you are on either the “2014” or “Classic” Themes, your portal appearance will not immediately change after this update. However, you will need to switch your theme to either the R4 Theme or the “Sweet” theme, as the “2014” and “Classic” Themes will both be completely eradicated with the next release. (If you are unsure of which Theme/layout your portal is currently utilizing, contact ICS Support at http://support.icslearninggroup.com and we will verify for you.)

The update will still include the new “Sweet” theme. This new theme improves workflows (less clicks, less page loads, more intuitive interface), increases mobile responsiveness, and has a sleek, updated feel that we know you and your users will love! You can update your theme by going to your Administrator Menu and clicking on Theme in the Interface section. Under “Styling”, select the “Sweet” Theme (2017), select your preferred color (controls the colors of the tops of the portlets/sections), and then click “Save Changes.”

CSS NOTE: If you have any custom CSS on your portal, you will most likely need to make changes to this CSS in order to reflect the changes that you desire correctly in the new theme. Your best bet will be to clear out any changes you have made via CSS and start from scratch.

Due to the new version of Inquisiq's focus on mobile responsiveness, the “Sweet” Theme’s masthead has been greatly simplified from previous Inquisiq layouts so as not to take up too much space on mobile devices with smaller screens. The new "Sweet" masthead is simplified and out of the way to keep the focus on the content.

The new masthead allows you to upload one small logo image on the left side, and then allows you to choose three colors that blend into one another across the masthead. There is no longer the allowance to add a right-side image, nor a background image. This has been done to simplify and reduce the size of the masthead for the best possible end-user experience across all devices.

When making changes to the colors in your masthead, after you click "Save Changes," CLEAR YOUR BROWSER'S CACHE in order to see the changes live in your masthead. Your end users will need to clear their browser cache to see any changes to the masthead colors, as well.

QUESTIONS / CONCERNS / COMMENTS

If you have any questions, concerns, or comments about anything described above, or anything else pertaining to your Inquisiq SaaS account, please go to http://support.icslearninggroup.com and submit a ticket. We at ICS Learning Group Support are always happy to assist in any way that we can!