What’s New In Principalm+ v7.3
Principalm+ v7.3 is a significant release that adds support for BlackBerry® devices, introduces a new product name, and a new flexible licensing and pricing structure.
This release also builds upon an already feature rich mobile handheld application by correcting known issues identified in previous versions and introducing customer feature requests. Details of each key improvement are highlighted below.
1.A new name…Principalm+
The change of the product name from Principalm to Principalm+ is to distinguish between previous versions of Principalm (v7.2 and earlier) and this new version that introduces a new flexible licensing and pricing structure.
2.A new flexible licensing plan
Over the past several years, Principalm has developed into a feature rich product that gives school and district personnel access to an abundance of data fields for students and staff including basic demographics, contact information, grades, attendance, schedules, medical alerts, legal alerts and conduct incidents.
Discovery Software recognizes that although having all of these data fields available on a handheld is invaluable to some customers, it’s not always relevant or affordable for others.
The basic idea of the new flexible licensing plan is to break down the groups of data fields into relevant modules and allow schools to pick and choose which modules they require to meet their unique needs.
Principalm+ now allows a customer to do just that. Principalm+ introduces the following modules:
Contacts: includes all of the data fields found within the ID, Contacts and School tabs in addition to the Medical and Notes chapters. The Contacts module also includes the NameGame (formerly LearnFaces) to help learn student names and improve school connectedness. The Contacts module will be required by all schools as it is the foundation piece for all other modules.
Classes: includes all of the data fields found within the Classes, Grades and Attendance tabs. The Classes module is available as an add-on.
Conduct: includes all of the data fields found within the Incidents and Outcomes tabs. The Conduct module is available as an add-on.
For some schools, such as an elementary school, the Contacts module may be all that is required to give administrators the critical information they need for day to day operations and to be prepared in the event of an emergency.
For a secondary school with a constant movement of students and staff around campus, and heightened discipline and truancy issues, they may choose to have the Contacts, Classes and Conduct modules.
3. A new pricing plan
The pricing model for Principalm+ has moved from a per school annual subscription fee to a per student annual subscription fee that allows unlimited users within a school or district.
At the time of renewal, schools must select which modules they would like to use and will be issued new license keys. All license keys will support Palm®, Windows Mobile® and BlackBerry® devices.
Please contact our Renewals Department at renewals@discoverysoftware.com or 1-888-569-7711 ext 2240 if you have any questions or to request a renewal quote.
4.Added support for BlackBerry® devices
Principalm+ continues to support Palm and Windows Mobile devices and adds support for BlackBerry® devices running OS 4.3 or later. Only the Contacts module is available in this release. Classes and Conduct modules will be coming soon. Existing customers running Principalm+ on a Palm or Windows Mobile device will notice a slightly different user interface on their BlackBerry® device, but just as easy to navigate as a result of device operating system capabilities.
5.NameGame Integrated into Principalm+
The NameGame (formerly LearnFaces) is now integrated into Principalm+. This means users can now login once and seamlessly move between NameGame and Principalm+.
6.General Bug Fixes
The following reported issues have been corrected in this release:
Principalm Connect…
- now handles photo index files where the order of the File Name and ID fields is reversed.
- now treats all key fields case-insensitively.
- now tracks line numbers correctly when the import data contains different line ending characters.
- only accepts one CalDate field per line, this fixes some confusing behavior in the import.
- now accepts tabs as separators when declaring custom fields.
- now sorts Periods, Bell Times, and Tumble Periods better.
Principalm Connect PDI generator…
- now scrambles phone numbers in a way that preserves the format.
- now adds missing table ending characters during generation.
Mac Connect…
- now correctly shows the minimum password length when it is changed from the default value of 4.
- no longer shows photo settings when photos are not being imported.
- no longer fails to run the PDI generator if no imports have been run.
Principalm+…
- no longer has a vanishing cursor on the login screen (for Palm users).
- contact list now shows contacts in calling order.
- no longer has problems handling multiple contacts with the same name in the contact popup.
7.Other Feature Additions
- Principalm+ can now store unlimited addresses (providing your Student Information System can export this data).
- Custom conduct fields now link to Students and Staff.
- Connect import now supports a “hidden” custom field type, that makes imported custom field data invisible in Principalm+.
- Custom fields declared using ComKind/ComValue can now have the page they show on specified by the import.
For more information about these features, and to reference our KnowledgeBase, visit the FAQ section of our website at discoverysoftware.com/support/download/