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What's New in ChildPlus

 

We are very excited to inform you that a new version of ChildPlus is now available! This update includes lots of exciting new enhancements and fixes. Keep reading to learn about everything that we've included in this update.

 

Already using version 4.7? Click here to read about what we've fixed since your last update.



Manage Archive and Training Databases

 

We've added the ability for you to manage your Archive and Training databases directly in ChildPlus. This feature will help your ChildPlus Administrator remove any old archives that are no longer needed. You'll be able to manage your archive and training databases via Setup > Database Utilities > Manage Archive and Training Databases.

 

 

Save the Dates!

 

October 22-25, 2018

 

 

December 10-13, 2018

 


Tips & Tricks

 

You can press the F6 key on your keyboard to incrementally search results in your Participants List. For example, press F6 and then type the letter S to highlight the first name in the list that begins with the letter S.

 

You can narrow your results even further by typing SM to highlight participants whose name begin with the letters SM. You can also type S M (with a space between the letters) to search for participants whose last name begins with S and first name begins with M.

 

Attachments for Community Resources

 

You'll now be able to use Attachments with the Community Resources module. You can use Attachments to store things like in-kind donation receipts and copies of the signed agreements that you have with each resource. To help support this feature, we've also created a new report, 1432 - Community Resource Attachment Listing, so you can view which Attachments are associated with your Community Resources.

 

 

Advanced Module Designer Reports

 

We've made several enhancements to the Advanced Report Designer to make it easier for you to create and build Advanced Module Designer reports from scratch. When you add a new Advanced List report in ChildPlus, it will automatically have the following elements included on it:

 

    • Location Footer
    • Report Footer
    • Example field inserted into Detail Band (ChildPlus will insert the first field from the table that the Module Designer is associated with)
    • Count type subtotals for the example field added to both the Location Footer and Report Footer band

     

You can also now add Count Checked, Count Not Checked, and Count by Value subtotals to reports that you create with the Advanced Module Designer without writing a script.

 

2017 CLASS® Thresholds

 

The 2017 CLASS® thresholds have been released and are now available in ChildPlus.

 

And More!

 

To make it easier to find what you are looking for, we've grouped the bug fixes included in this update by the area of the system where you can find them:

 

Services

To-Do List

Entry Express

Management

Dashboard

Reports

Setup

Main Menu

   

Services

We've made the following changes to these Service Area modules:

 

Area Description
Add New Family We resolved an issue that was preventing users from seeing the Dental Coverage, Dental Coverage Number and Dental Home fields if they did not have access to the Application Notes field.
Application

We resolved an issue where ChildPlus was deleting data from the Living Address Notes box if you added a new Mailing Address for a family.

 

ChildPlus will now apply the security settings for LiveMessage Email and Text messages to the Send Message button in the Application module.

Disability

When you mark an IEP as Closed, ChildPlus will now automatically set the Received Services and Next IEP Review fields to blank.

 

You can now use Append-Only Notes with the Disability module.

 

We resolved an issue where printed notes related to Disability concerns were missing identifying information about the activity and participant.

Enrollment

We resolved an issue where ChildPlus was not saving changes to Eligibility Criteria if you immediately added a new participation record after making a change.

 

We resolved an issue that was preventing security privileges for the Type of Eligibility Interview Conducted field from working correctly in ChildPlus.

 

ChildPlus will now display the first day of the participant's Dropped status in the Enrollment section of the screen. In previous versions of the system, ChildPlus was displaying the last day of the participant's Enrolled status instead of the first day of their Dropped status.

 

Family Services

We resolved an issue that was causing an error if you attempted to save a Family Service action with no information in the Hour and/or Minute field.

 

We resolved an issue with the tab order where ChildPlus was requiring you to press the Tab key twice to move from the Initial Date to the Event Type field.

 

When you add a new event in Family Services, ChildPlus will now ask you pick the event type before you add any additional information.

 

We resolved an issue that was preventing the Save as Attachment feature available for custom modules designed for Family Services with the Module Designer from working correctly.

 

We resolved an issue where, in certain situations, ChildPlus was not saving changes made to Notes for Family Service Actions.

Health

We resolved an issue that was causing an error if you had the Show actions preview option activated on the Events tab and attempted to add either multiple health events or an event with sub-events.

 

We resolved an issue that was preventing ChildPlus from displaying newly added health events in the Health Events list if you added them via Add Multiple Events and had a filter applied.

Online Application If a parent selects Yes for the Does you child have a disability? question on the Online Application, ChildPlus will now automatically add a Concern in the Disability module.
Participants List

We've added a new tool tip that lets you view the entire Agency name on the Select Which Participants to Include dialog that displays when you click Change List.

 

 

We resolved an issue where, in certain situations, ChildPlus was still displaying inactive staff members when you clicked Change List and filtered by Responsible Staff for a service area.

Services > PIR We resolved an issue that was causing out of sync tab order on the Services > PIR screen.

To-Do List

We made the following change to the To-Do List in ChildPlus:

 

Area Description
To-Do List

We resolved an issue that was causing an error if you attempted to save an appointment in the To-Do List.

 

We resolved an issue where, when you clicked on an Education event in the To-Do List, ChildPlus launched the Health module instead of the Education module.

 

We resolved an issue where the Current User setting was not being applied if a To-Do List was sent via e-mail. Moving forward, if any of the Current User boxes are checked in the setup for the To-Do List, ChildPlus will only email items for which the user is responsible.

Entry Express

We made the following change to Entry Express in ChildPlus:

 

Area Description
Education We resolved an issue that was preventing Education events added through Entry Express from being logged correctly in the Data History Log. Moving forward, if you add an event that is related to both the Education and Health modules, ChildPlus will record it in the Data History Log for the module that you added the event through in Entry Express. For example, if you use the Entry Express - Education to record an event, you'll find it in the Data History Log for Education.

Management

We've made the following changes to these Management modules:

 

Area Description
Community Resources

You'll now be able to use Attachments with Community Resources. We've also created a new report, 1432 - Community Resource Attachment Listing, so you can view which attachments are associated with your Community Resources.

 

 

We've added the LEA and Part C Agency resource types to various screens throughout the system. They will now be available wherever the other Community Resource types are listed.

Personnel

ChildPlus recommends inactivating personnel records rather than deleting them. However, if you do have to permanently delete a staff member's record from Personnel, we've made it easier for you to do so. To prevent accidental deletions, ChildPlus will display a list of each of the staff member's current roles in the system. You will also need to manually type the word Delete to confirm that you want to delete the record.

 

PIR We resolved an issue where ChildPlus was loading the wrong report for PIR question C.52.
Professional Development > Trainings

We've made it possible for you to both search for trainees and filter results when you add Trainees to a Training Event record in ChildPlus.

 

Professional Development > Trainees

We've made it possible for you to both search for training events and filter results when you add Training Events to a Trainees record in ChildPlus.

 

Dashboard

We've made the following changes to the Dashboard in ChildPlus:

 

Area Description
Dashboard

In order to improve performance, ChildPlus will no longer refresh Dashboard data for old program terms each night. You will still be able to manually refresh data for old program terms by clicking the Refresh button.

 

The Developmental Assessments Education indicator will now only include assessment periods that are active and where the assessment's Start Date falls within the program term that you selected.

 

ChildPlus will no longer email the owner of a shared Dashboard view twice. In previous versions of the system, owners were being emailed twice if they were also a member of a security group with access to the view.

 

We resolved an issue where ChildPlus was not displaying funded enrollment for program terms with no participation records associated with them.

 

We resolved an issue that was preventing health requirement events without Expiration Dates from being counted in the Health Requirements Up-To-Date indicator.

 

We've updated the way ChildPlus calculates totals for the Preventative Dental Care indicator. In previous versions of the system, ChildPlus was only counting participants whose C.18 PIR Override value was set to Count.

Reports

We've made the following changes to Reports in ChildPlus:

 

Report Description
LiveMessage - Send Text Message We resolved an issue where ChildPlus was still sending SMS messages to old phone numbers that had previously opted in for text messages. These messages were being sent even after the old phone number was updated in ChildPlus.
Miscellaneous Reports

We resolved an issue that was preventing you from exporting Miscellaneous reports to an .xlsx file format.

 

We've added the ability for you to zoom in and zoom out of the report grid for Miscellaneous reports.

 

We've added new options that give you control over whether ChildPlus displays grid lines on Miscellaneous reports.

 

 

We added the ability for you to control which columns display in the grid on Miscellaneous reports.

 

Personnel Reports

We've updated the method that you use to select which position(s) you want to include on the Report Setup screen for the following reports:

 

  • 1132 - Personnel Attachment Listing
  • 1115 - Employment Record
  • 1150 - Personnel Health Status
  • 1110 - Personnel Name, Address and Demographics
  • 1191 - Personnel ID Cards
  • 1130 - Personnel Agency-Specific Fields
  • 1120 - User Security Profile
  • 6501 - Data Export (Personnel tab)

 

1115 - Employment Record We resolved an issue where ChildPlus was inadvertently including inactive Agency Specific Fields on this report.
1130 - Personnel User Defined Fields We resolved an issue that was preventing you from being able to group by site on this report.
1410 - Community Resource Listing

We've added the ability for you to select the following Resource Types on the Report Setup screen:

 

  • LEA
  • Part C Agency
  • Other (None of the Above)
2005 - Management Report - End of Month Enrollment We've modified the way that ChildPlus calculates turnover on this report. Due to these changes, it's now possible for participants to replace themselves on this report.
2025 - Enrollment Priority We resolved an issue where ChildPlus was listing eligible participants as ineligible on this report in certain situations.
2110 - Master List Of Participants We resolved an issue where ChildPlus was not printing the Primary Disability on this report if there was an activity dated after the IEP record.
2210 - Enrollment Turnover We've modified the way that ChildPlus calculates turnover on this report. Due to these changes, it's now possible for participants to replace themselves on this report.
2250 - Graph - Income Eligibility We've added the actual numeric counts that each slice of the pie chart on this report represents.
2303 - Attendance Data Entry Monitoring We resolved an issue where ChildPlus was shading the first day of the month pink, regardless of whether attendance was taken, if the classroom didn't operate on that day.
2305 - Monthly Attendance

We resolved an issue where ChildPlus was duplicating participants on this report.

 

We resolved an issue where ChildPlus was not printing accurate data for participants enrolled in two different program terms at the same location.

2511 - Individual Education Services Record We adjusted the margins on this report so that all of the content now fits evenly.
2336 - Attendance Works Chronic Absence Grid We resolved an issue where, if you specified a Date Range on the Report Setup screen, ChildPlus was excluding records that occurred on either the First or Last Day in the Date Range.
3501 - Management Report - Disabilities When an IEP or IFSP record has a status of Closed, ChildPlus will now use the Received Services value from the previous IEP/IFSP record to determine if the system should check the Received Srvs column on this report.
Report 3035 - Latest Occurrence Of Health Events Due to issues with them being displayed consistently, we've removed the underlines from participant names on this report.
3502 - Disability Enrollment Chart We resolved an issue where ChildPlus was inflating IEP and IFSP counts on this report in situations where records had the same date or if a person has both an open IEP and an open IFSP.
4240 - Family Outcomes - Analysis We resolved an issue where ChildPlus was listing families with multiple participants as Incomplete if participants had different Case Workers assigned to them.
5450 - Group Profile Comparison ChildPlus will now count children as having a disability on this report if, at the time you run the report (the current date), they have either an open IEP or IFSP.
6510 - Teaching Strategies Gold Export

We resolved an issue that was preventing security settings for this report from working correctly.

 

We removed the Custom Filters tab from this report.

6543 - Google Maps Export This new export report is designed for agencies who want to use Google Maps for mapping purposes. Once you export your data from ChildPlus and import it into Google, you'll be able to see pushpins that highlight the physical location of your participants and sites.
7801 - CDD-801A We resolved an issue that was causing export errors related to the file format of this report.  Moving forward, ChildPlus will always export this report as an ASCII file.
9700 - PIR Report We updated the label for question B.8 (Toddler Child Development Staff) so that it correctly reflects the question on the PIR.
9600 - California Report CD - 9600 We've updated this report so that it now includes the changes that were made by the State of California. In addition to the changes on this report, we've also updated its name to EESD - 9600.
9705 - Subsidy, Transportation, Homeless We removed all references to "fathers" since the information is no longer applicable on this report.
9913 - PIR Addendum Worksheet - Health We resolved an issue where ChildPlus was opening the Mental Health module instead of the Health module if you clicked on a participant's name.
Report 9726 - Program Staff - Family Workers and FCP Supervisory Staff (B.23, B.24, B.24a,. 25, 26) We edited the title of this report so that it now references question B.23 as well.

Setup

We've made the following Setup changes in ChildPlus:

 

Area Description
Module Designer

We resolved an issue that was preventing Append Only Notes from working correctly in modules designed using the Module Designer.

 

We resolved an issue that was causing an increased grid row height for Module Designer modules created for Management modules.

 

We've added the LEA and Part C Agency resource types so they are available to choose from when you are using the Community Resource Type field in a module designed with the Module Designer.

 

We've added an important disclaimer to the Security tab available for Module Designer modules. This disclaimer lets you know that module-level security settings are not available for modules associated with Health or Education events. Instead, if a user has access to Health or Education events, they will also have access to Module Designer modules associated with those types of events.

Module Designer Reports

Standard Module Designer Reports

To prevent users from accidentally discarding changes they have made, we've modified the Close (X) button (located in the top right corner of the Add Report screen) so that it's more consistent with the way this button works on other screens in ChildPlus.

 

We've added the ability for you to run Module Designer reports based on Participants in Summary mode.

 

We resolved an issue where the Add/Edit links on Module Designer reports created for Education Events were pointing to Health instead of Education.

 

Advanced Module Designer Reports

We've made several enhancements to the Advanced Report Designer to make it easier to create Advanced Module Designer reports. When you add a new Advanced List report in ChildPlus, it will automatically have the following elements included on it:

 

  • Location Footer
  • Report Footer
  • Example field inserted into Detail Band
  • Count type subtotals for the example field added to both the Location Footer and Report Footer band

 

You can also now add Count Checked, Count Not Checked, and Count by Value subtotals to reports that you create with the Advanced Module Designer without writing a script.

Setup > Database Utilities > Manage Archive and Training Databases

We've added the ability for you to manage your Archive and Training databases directly in ChildPlus. This feature will help your ChildPlus Administrator remove any old archives that are no longer needed.

 

Setup > Data Utilities > Merge In-Kind Volunteers ChildPlus will now delete the person record for the In-Kind volunteer that it removes when using the Merge In-Kind Volunteers.
Setup > Data Utilities > Merge Community Resources We resolved an issue where ChildPlus was not merging attachments when you merged In-Kind or Community Resources.
Setup > Data Utilities > History Since it's not applicable, we removed the Mobile Attendance App choice from the Data History Options screen.
Setup > Agency Configuration > Program Info > Program Term We resolved an issue where the tab order was out of sync in the Responsible Staff by Service Area section of the screen.
Setup > Agency Configuration > Agency Info > Inspections We resolved an issue that, in certain situations, was preventing ChildPlus from creating inspections for newly added sites.
Setup > Initial Setup

We've made some minor changes to the order of items in the Setup > Initial Setup menu in ChildPlus.

 

Setup > Security > User Security Groups

We've added a separate security node for the Print Screen button in ChildPlus.

 

 

We've expanded the Birth and Pregnancy security nodes so you have more control over security privileges for these modules.

 

 

We've expanded the Disability security node so you can control the Calculation Preferences for the PIR Disability Service questions section on the Disability module's Additional Info tab.

 

 

We've added the ability for you to control whether a user has access to the Remove Future Home Visits button in Family Services.

 

 

Because the check box from the system in a previous version of ChildPlus, we've removed the Services > Health > Event Details > Met Requirement security node from ChildPlus.

 

We've added a new security node for the Type of Eligibility Interview conducted field in Services > Enrollment > Eligibility

 

 

We resolved an issue where the security node for the Where should this event type be available field on the Setup > Module Setup > Health and Education Events screen was associated with a different field in the system.

 

We resolved an issue where the security node for the Eligibility Documentation Used to Determine Eligibility field on the Services > Enrollment > Eligibility screen were associated with a different field in the system.

 

We resolved an issue that was preventing users with View Access to the Disability module from viewing Concerns and any Activities related to Concerns. As part of this fix, and to avoid future confusion, we've consolidated the Edit Concern and Edit Concern Activity security nodes. Moving forward, security for these functions can be set using the main Disability > Concerns security node.

 

Setup > Security > Security Settings

Because of the confusion that it caused when you selected the any program term options, we've removed the Users can add participation records for setting from the General tab of the Security Settings screen. Moving forward, users will only be able to add program participation records for program terms that have at least one classroom that the user has security privileges to access.

 

Setup > Module Setup> CLASS® Observations

This update includes the 2017 CLASS® Thresholds.

 

Setup > Module Setup> Health and Education Events

We've added the ability for you to make the following fields available for your Health and Education events:

 

  • Event Date
  • Expires
  • Status

 

Setup > Module Setup > Health and Education Requirements

When you add a new Health or Education Requirement Set, ChildPlus will now let you choose whether you want to create a new requirement set from scratch or make a copy an existing set.

Setup > System Setup > Define Participant Group

We've added additional identifying details to the Add Members grid that ChildPlus displays when you add new members to a Participant Group. We've also made it possible for you to search for and filter results when you are adding members to a Participant Group.

 

Setup > System Setup >Licensing

We've added a reminder to the licensing message that displays when your license is about to expire. ChildPlus will now remind ChildPlus Administrators that they can configure who sees renewal messages by going to Setup > Security > User Security Groups and setting the access level for Security > Receive warnings when the ChildPlus license is nearing expiration to No Access.

Main Menu

We've made the following changes to the Main Menu in ChildPlus:

 

Area Description
Help > Request Technical Support When a user goes to Help > Request Technical Support to request ChildPlus Technical Support, we'll now automatically populate the user's email address and phone number with data from their Personnel record in ChildPlus.
Gear > Staff Time Clock

We resolved an issue that was preventing individuals with both a Personnel and a Participant record (for example, a former parent who is now a staff member at your agency) from checking in using the Staff Time Clock.

 

You can now make changes to the Type field for Time Clock records via Management >Personnel >Time Clock.

Fixes Since 1/20/18

Area Description
To-Do List We resolved an issue that was causing an error if you attempted to save an appointment in the To-Do List.
PIR We resolved an issue where ChildPlus was loading the wrong report for PIR question C.52.
Report 3502 - Disability Enrollment Chart We resolved an issue where ChildPlus was inflating IEP and IFSP counts on this report in situations where records had the same date or if a person has both an open IEP and an open IFSP.
Report 4240 - Family Outcomes - Analysis We resolved an issue where ChildPlus was listing families with multiple participants as Incomplete if participants had different Case Workers assigned to them.
Report 9705 - Subsidy, Transportation, Homeless We removed all references to "fathers" since the information is no longer applicable on this report.

 

Fixes Since 2/3/2018

Area Description
Family Services

We resolved an issue where the Issue field was disabled whenever you opened the Family Services module.

 

We resolved an issue where, in certain situations, ChildPlus was not saving changes made to Notes for Family Service Actions.

Report 3035 - Latest Occurrence Of Health Events Due to issues with them being displayed consistently, we've removed the underlines from participant names on this report.
Report 9726 - Program Staff - Family Workers and FCP Supervisory Staff (B.23, B.24, B.24a,. 25, 26) We edited the title of this report so that it now references question B.23 as well.
Setup > Module Setup> CLASS® Observations

This update includes the 2017 CLASS® Thresholds.

 

Setup > Data Utilities > History Since it's not applicable, we removed the Mobile Attendance App choice from the Data History Options screen.

Fixes Since 2/10/2018

Area Description
Disability We resolved an issue that was preventing users with View Access to the Disability module from viewing Concerns or any Activities related to Concerns. As part of this fix, and to avoid future confusion, we've consolidated the Edit Concern and Edit Concern Activity security nodes. Moving forward, security for these functions can be set using the main Disability > Concerns security node.
Enrollment We resolved an issue that was causing an error if you attempted to clear a signature in a module created using the Module Designer in ChildPlus.
Family Application We updated the View Head Start Program Definition of Income link in the Income section of the Family Information screen. It now points to: https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/policy/45-cfr-chap-xiii/1305-2-terms.
Family Services We resolved an issue that was preventing ChildPlus from saving Family Service Action Notes in certain situations.
6543 - Google Maps Export This new export report is designed for agencies who want to use Google Maps for mapping purposes. Once you export your data from ChildPlus and import it into Google, you'll be able to see pushpins that highlight the physical location of your participants and sites.
California Report CD - 9600 We've updated this report so that it now includes the changes that were made by the State of California. In addition to the changes on this report, we've also updated its name to EESD - 9600.

Fixes Since 2/17/2018

Area Description
Family Application

We updated the View Head Start Program Definition of Income link so it now points to:
https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/policy/45-cfr-chap-xiii/1305-2-terms.

Family Services We resolved an issue where Family Service events configured to default to the participant (via Setup >Module Setup > Family Service Events) were defaulting to the family instead.
To-Do List We resolved an issue where ChildPlus was filtering To-Do List emails differently than the To-Do List in certain situation.
PIR Reports We resolved an issue that was preventing grid lines from being visible on PIR reports.
Report 3501 - Management Report - Disabilities

We resolved an issue that was causing an error if you attempted to run this report after filtering by Responsible Staff on the Report Setup screen.

 

We resolved an issue where ChildPlus was not always displaying the IEF/IFSP data section on this report. .

Questions?

If you have any questions about this ChildPlus update, please contact ChildPlus Technical Support at support@childplus.com or 800-888-6674.

 

 

This document last updated: 3/21/2018