Latest upgrade: What's new?

Advertising enhancements

The following features have been added to optimize and improve the Advertising module:

• Advertising Sales representative update to public site – Staff users can now assign a sales representative and territory to media orders purchased on a public site when configuring Sales representative settings under Advertising. Only one Representative-Territory combination can be selected for this option.
• Media assets available on public site option – Staff users can now make media assets available for public purchase with a simple toggle. When creating or editing a media asset, enabling the Available on public site option ensures it’s accessible to public users.
• Email required for public media assets - To enhance communication and transaction tracking, an email is now required when enabling the Available on public site option for media assets.

More Advertising enhancements are coming in a future release.

Enhancements

• Duplicate Merge - Plus rebranded to Premium - Duplicate Merge - Plus is now Duplicate Merge - Premium, marked by a pink diamond icon instead of the green PLUS button.

Upgrade Changes

• Stripe ACH and Direct debits have been implemented for the following regions: United States, Australia, and the European Union.
• The iMIS Assistant chatbot is disabled by default.

Documentation

In addition to documentation created for the new features and enhancements listed above, the following documentation was created in response to client feedback, support inquiries, and other external requests:

• Pre-upgrade checklist: The pre-upgrade checklist was enhanced to note when each task can and should be performed. Each task is now designated with a specific category (1, 2, or 3).
• Understanding non-dues billing: New section that goes over important dates related to the non-dues billing process.
• Configuring monthly, quarterly, or yearly membership offerings: New article that goes over how to offer monthly, quarterly, or annual membership options through a single member type, specifically useful for those configuring flexible membership options using AutoPay.
• Searching for queries: New article that goes over how to search for queries using the existing functionality on the RiSE Dashboard.
• Stripe FAQ: New article that covers frequently asked questions regarding the Stripe gateway. This article is organized by region.

iMIS Assistant chatbot

The iMIS Assistant chatbot, powered by AI, helps staff users find information and receive personalized assistance to their questions. The iMIS Assistant is connected to the help site, enabling it to answer questions about the Staff site. The iMIS Assistant chatbot is enabled out-of-the-box but can be disabled (Settings > AI).

Adding panels to invoices to collect custom invoice data

Invoice-based panel sources and panel definitions are now available, providing staff users with the ability to add custom data to an invoice. For details, see Creating invoice-based panels and Adding invoice panels to invoice pages.

AutoPay enhancements

The following AutoPay updates have been made to improve transparency and simplify the payment management experience:

• Retrieve processed payments - The Retrieve processed payments tab (Fundraising > Automatic payments > Process payments, OR Membership > Automatic payments > Process payments) has been upgraded with new detailed payment information columns, progress trackers, and convenient links to streamline navigation.
• Saved payment methods - Saved payment method names (Account page > Preferences > Saved payment methods) have been renamed to locally used terminology, such as "Account” in the UK, and “Checking/Savings” in North America.
• Using open credits for recurring AutoPay transactions - Open credits may be used to pay or partially pay recurring transactions.
• Expanded limit for retrying failed AutoPay payment requests - A new setting, Retry failed payment requests, has been added to the Automatic payments tab (Settings > Finance > Pay Central) that allows staff to set a limit for the number of times a payment can be submitted through Process recurring donations and Process recurring renewal payments.

Excluding products from promotions

When adding or editing products, you can exclude specific products from promotions. By default, all products are eligible for promotions, so if you want a product to be ineligible, make sure to disable the promotion setting.

Staff site Style Updates

The following styling enhancements have been made throughout the Staff site:

• Enhanced Orion theme - The Staff site theme (Orion) was enhanced with new colors, buttons, fonts, and tab styles.
• Plus features rebranded to Premium - Plus features, which require a license, have been rebranded to Premium features, indicated by a pink diamond icon that replaces the green PLUS button. These premium features include the following:
  • Duplicate merge
  • Advanced email
  • Form builder
  • Process automation
  • Scoring
• Reorganization of the Utility Navigation in the staff site - The Utility Navigation in the Staff site has been reorganized to include the search bar aligned on the right, followed by the cart, iMIS Assistant, Easy Edit, override transaction date, on behalf of, and account profile/sign in and out options.



• Requesting more information about an available feature - Click any available feature on the Enhance your iMIS experience page (Help > Enhance iMIS) to view details and access a Learn More button, which leads to a page to request more information about the licensed feature.

Enhancements

• Refunds for Stripe direct debits in the UK - Direct debit refunds can be processed directly within iMIS, eliminating the need to navigate to the Stripe gateway portal.
• GiftHistory business object enhanced with additional properties - The GiftHistory business object has been enhanced with new properties, such as Is Pledge, Is Soft Credit, Fiscal Month, and Fair Mkt Value, offering users greater flexibility and control when crafting queries and generating reports based on giving history.
• Changing the customer type from the Contact Mini Profile content item - Staff users can update an individual or organization’s customer type by going to the appropriate account page and editing the Contact Mini Profile content item.
• Excluding cash invoices from the Trial Balance report - A new parameter, Exclude Cash, has been added to the Trial Balance report that allows users to omit transactions related to cash invoices.
• Extended character support for contact addresses - Addresses now support extended characters, such as Greek characters. This enhancement ensures accurate entry, storage, and display of Extended characters across event confirmations, invoices, contact profile pages, and wherever else addresses are used.
• Identifying queries with incorrect syntax expressions - The RiSE Dashboard's new alert empowers system administrators to easily identify custom IQA queries with incorrect syntax expressions.

Upgrade Changes

• Easy Edit automatically disabled on logout - Easy Edit automatically disables upon logout. To continue editing, simply re-enable Easy Edit when you log back in.
• Automatic joins for business objects - Certain out-of-the-box business objects, like CsActivity and NetContactData, now automatically include relevant joins when added to a query.
• Dismissing the upgrade alert message - After an upgrade, the Upgraded Completed Alert Message can be dismissed by clicking the X icon.
• Enhanced promotion criteria prioritization for qualified customers - Previously, promotions with an IQA for Qualified customers could still be applied to non-qualified customers if the other limits were defined (Maximum cart uses per customer, Maximum cart uses overall, or Minimum cart total). Now, IQAs for qualified customers take highest priority. If an IQA is defined, only customers in the query are eligible for the promotion, even if the other limits are set.

Documentation

• IQA reference sheet
• Reporting using the fiscal year
• Understanding non-dues billing

Stripe gateway available in all regions

The Stripe gateway is available in all regions upon request. Please contact your AiSP or CPIL to learn how to get started with the Stripe gateway.

UK Direct debits for the Stripe gateway

Direct debit payments have been implemented for the Stripe gateway in the UK. In addition, reconciliation of direct debit payments within iMIS enables staff to easily track both initial and recurring payments, minimizing manual effort and enhancing accuracy in financial reporting.

Generating membership renewals automatically

Organizations can now fully automate membership renewals by using two new process automation tasks:

• Generate membership renewals – Generates and posts renewal invoices for a selected billing cycle, automating the manual process at Membership > Renewals > Generate renewals.
• Send membership renewal invoices to Pay Central – For AutoPay users, this task sends renewal invoices directly to Pay Central, enabling complete automation of recurring membership renewal payments.

See Automating the membership renewal process.

Overriding the default start month for annual billing cycles

Easily define custom start months for annual billing cycles using the First month of term option, which allows member types to follow unique billing schedules within the same organization. This option, available in Membership > Billing cycles and the Membership Configuration Wizard, applies only to the term dates of the specific billing cycle and does not impact the fiscal year defined in Finance settings. See Managing different start months for annual memberships.

Assigning a customer type when creating a new account

The Contact Account Creator includes new configuration options for assigning default customer types to individual and organization contacts. Staff can override these pre-configured types when adding contacts, while new contacts created by public users automatically receive the pre-configured types. If no customer type is specified, the system default from the Organization settings is applied automatically.

Exploring additional ASI products, licensed features, and iMIS integrations

Easily review a comprehensive overview of additional ASI products from the application menu located in the header of the Staff site or from Help > Enhance iMIS. From these new areas, users can explore all ASI offerings, such as Clowder, OpenWater, and TopClass. Simply click one of the offerings in the menu to learn more about it.

Also from Help > Enhance iMIS, review all available licensed features not yet purchased, or easily navigate to the iMIS Marketplace where you can discover the full range of iMIS integrations.

 

Updated banners on out-of-the-box account pages

The Staff site features fresh, updated banners for both individual and organization out-of-the-box account pages. Custom account pages will retain their original banners. To begin using the updated banner style on custom account pages, see Editing custom account pages.

Special character support for product and event details

The following now support extended special characters, including Māori macrons:

• Product name
• Product description
• Event name
• Event description
• Event notes

To accommodate this enhancement, the character limit for product and event titles has been increased from 60 to 120.

Custom business objects built on database tables or out-of-the-box views automatically support this feature, while those built on custom views may require manual updates. For details on enabling this feature in custom views, see the related Tech Alert.

Enhancements

• Using the Membership Configuration Wizard beyond initial setup - Once you have completed the initial setup of the Membership Configuration Wizard, you have the flexibility to revisit and update any specific configuration settings by going to Membership > Configuration wizard. Other options for navigating the wizard (either on setup or maintenance) have also been added such as the options to Save or return to a Previous screen.
• Updated event question editing - When editing event questions, users can now simply click on the individual edit icon next to the question they want to modify, eliminating the need to click the question row and then select Edit selected.
• Improved visibility of query security settings - The security of a query is clearly defined using tags near the query name. The tag will read either Public, Limited, Private, or Internal. Additionally, the query Security tab contains more details regarding the security of the query.
• Certificate expiration alerts added to the About iMIS page - To enhance visibility of certificate status and prevent service disruptions, the About iMIS page (Settings > About iMIS) now displays alerts for expired or expiring certificates. When either of these alerts display, contact ASI support for further guidance.

Upgrade changes

• Enhanced HTML editor accessibility - The updated WCAG accessibility guidelines now recommend using the Firefox browser for navigating the HTML editor.

• Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) renamed to Entra ID - When setting up OpenID Connect (OIDC) , the external directory formerly known as Azure Active Directory has been renamed to Entra ID. There are no changes to functionality, only the name has been updated for consistency with recent branding.

Documentation

• Adding event speaker details to the public website
• Best Practices: Preventing duplicate contacts
• New pre- and post-upgrade information about working with images and files
• Scoring:
  • Scoring FAQ
  • Updating the account page to use custom scores
  • Scoring: Getting Started Guide
• Out-of-the-box queries:
  • Accounting and Finance
  • Commerce
  • Communications
  • Contacts
  • Events