Release Notes Archive

Release #5.2.0.0 - 06/30/2026

Changelog

Release #5.1.1.0 - 06/22/2026

Changelog

Release #5.1.0.0 - 06/04/2026

Changelog

Release #5.0.0.5 - 05/26/2026

Changelog

Appointments

1. Added new appointment subjects for Career Bridge Advisors.
   1. General Career Advising
   2. Resume Reviews
   3. CV Reviews
   4. Cover Letter Writing
   5. Mock Interviews
   6. Professional Branding
   7. Job Search Assistance
2. Improved visibility of Appointment Length buttons.
3. Fixed a bug where appointments could not be rescheduled to a time on the same day.

Reporting

1. Added a new filter/column "Hold Preventing Registration" to filter for students that have an active hold that prevents them from registering. When used as a column, it shows the holds that prevent the student from registering.
2. Added format guidelines for some filter values.
3. Fixed a bug when editing a filter that allows the selection of multiple values

Release #5.0.0.0 - 04/20/2026

Changelog

Appointments

1. Improved loading indicators for My Appointments.
2. Minor UI adjustments on the Manage Availability page.
3. Minor adjustments to some location names.

General

1. Added an option to include a file attachment when sending an email to one or multiple students.

Release #4.1.1.0 - 04/06/2026

Changelog

Appointments

1. When scheduling an appointment with yourself, Retain now shows which time slots conflict with an existing event on your calendar. This should provide more clarity and prevent accidentally scheduling an appointment at the same time as an existing event.
2. Added an option to set Minimum Appointment Length under the Availability page.
   1. When the minimum appointment length is set, appointments with you cannot be scheduled for a duration shorter than your minimum appointment length.
   2. For example, if your minimum appointment length is set to 30, users cannot schedule an appointment that is 15 minutes long.
3. When scheduling an appointment, if you are included among the available participants, you will now appear at the top of the list as “Myself.”
4. Replaced the CRN text field with a Course Lookup when scheduling an appointment.
   1. This only replaces the text field. Students will still see a dropdown of their courses.
5. When selecting an appointment time, only appointment lengths that the user is available for will be shown.
   
   1. Previously, 15, 30, and 60 minute options were always displayed. If you selected a duration that was not available (for example, 15 minutes), a banner would indicate that no times were available. Now, unavailable appointment lengths are no longer shown at all.
6. Cleaned up appointment UI on the Team Schedule page.
7. Fixed a bug where sometimes selecting a 60 minute appointment would sometimes show the old time breakdown.
8. Fixed a bug where users would sometimes be prompted twice to cancel an appointment.
9. Mobile view fixes for student scheduling.

Reporting

1. Added a filter that indicates whether a student has dropped a course this term
2. The following filters now dynamically pull the most up to date list of values:
   1. Cases Status
   2. College Code
   3. College Description
   4. Major Code
   5. Major Description
   6. Student Type
   7. Student College
   8. Enrollment Status
   9. SAP Status
   10. Active App Admit Status
   11. Student Category Code
   12. Student Category Description

General

1. Added improved loading indicators to Actions when viewing a student.
2. Fixed a crash on the Advising Reporting page.
3. Improved Advising/Appointments intro UI

Release #4.1.0.0 - 03/24/2026

Changelog

Reporting

1. Added the option to create Joined Reports.
   1. Joined reports combine cases/appointment data with associated student data.
      1. Cases and appointment data is matched with historical student data, meaning student information will align with the time the case/appointment was created. If there is no matching historic data, the student's latest data will be pulled instead.
   2. Joined reports have a 12.5k return row cap to prevent excessive data transmission.
2. Added filters can now be selected by clicking on them.
   
   1. Selected filters can be grouped together from within the sidebar
3. Added options to ungroup filters and switch group types from the sidebar.
4. Revamped the Load Report screen for improved usability.
   
   1. Reports now have a corresponding color/icon based on the report's type.
   2. Added filtering by report type.
   3. Added search functionality for saved reports.
   4. Added sorting options for saved reports.
5. Reworked reporting charts for improved clarity.
   
   1. Charts now have improved tooltips when hovering over a value.
   2. Clicking on a value now allows you to add that filter to your list of filters.
6. Several filters now have the option to select multiple values when picking a filter instead of adding them one at a time.
7. Long cell values now use scrollbars to prevent excessive row height.
8. Lists within cells now display as bullet points.
9. Added student images to reporting when in Student List view or when clicking on a row.
10. Added descriptions to filters in cases and appointments reporting.
11. Cleaned up the sort UI to give more vertical space to the filters.
12. Updated some filters to always pull up to date values.
13. All reports now start with the student ID instead of their name.
14. Fixed a bug where previous reporting data could appear after changing filters/report type.

General

1. Aligned styles throughout the app.
2. Fixed a bug where preferred pronouns and gender designation would sometimes incorrectly appear as "Not Specified".
3. Improved Dashboards & Engagement module homepages.
4. Non Established Attendance prebuilt report for advisors criteria has been refined.

Release #4.0.6.0 - 03/09/2026

Changelog

Progress Reports

1. Advisors' No Established Attendance reports have been expanded to identify all students who have not met the system definition, excluding courses that have not started yet.
   1. As courses start, these students and their classes will automatically be pulled in for evaluation against the system definition.
   2. Previously, these reports only identified students who were associated with a progress report for the given term.
2. System improvements and expansion to allow for different, concurrent types of progress reports.
   1. For example, attendance and engagement campaigns can now run concurrently together seamlessly, with separated email notifications, custom template fields, and recommendation logic.

Appointments

1. Increased the number of course sections available for selection under Log Appointment to 50 options, up from the previous limit of 20.

Communication

1. The 320 SMS character count limit is now visible when sending communications through Mass Engagement.

Release #4.0.5.0 - 03/02/2026

Changelog

Reporting

1. When dynamic filter value lists (e.g. concentration, major, etc.) are loading in, a spinning load icon has been added.

Appointments

1. The appointment scheduling interface has been standardized in student-facing views across direct scheduling links and the general registration page.

Communication

1. Mass notification emails have had their character limits increased to 20,000.

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. Fixed a bug where rich text editor tooltips were being cut off in certain modal displays.
2. The progress report dashboard button has been hidden for unauthorized users
   1. Previously, it would just redirect unauthorized users to the homepage.

Release #4.0.4.1 - 02/24/2026

Changelog

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. The Dean role has been granted access to the progress report dashboard.

Release #4.0.4.0 - 02/23/2026

Changelog

Cases

1. Technology Support cases will now route to Learning Support.

Reporting

1. The SAP column now includes the term the SAP status was applied.
   1. This does not impact pre-existing filters for SAP statuses.

Bugfixes & Miscellaenous

1. Fixed a bug where hyperlinks would not work as expected in the WYSIWIG editor.
2. Selection actions now have labels indicating their respective functions.
3. General system improvements and package upgrades.

Release #4.0.3.0 - 02/16/2026

Changelog

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. Fixed a bug where filters could be loaded for a report type that wasn’t currently selected.
2. Fixed an issue where interest code filters would not work as expected in reporting.

Release #4.0.2.0 - 02/10/2026

Changelog

General

1. Department Staff now have access to view Cumulative GPA.

Cases

1. Case type/subject have been condensed into one dropdown. Selecting one option in this dropdown will automatically select both the case type and subject simultaneously.
2. Added in "Term/Course has ended" for case closure reason.

Appointments

1. When scheduling an appointment with Learning Support, Retain now displays if a person is a peer tutor.
2. Advisor contact information has been added to appointment reminder communications via emails and texts.
3. When an error occurs while scheduling an appointment, more information about the error is now shown to the user.

1. Add appointment start time and end time to Appointments Reporting.

Progress Reports

1. Case tooltips have been extended to progress reports to provide more context on what a particular case type does.

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. Fixed a bug where international country codes were being incorrectly added to US phone numbers when communicating with some international students.
2. Fixed a bug where selected filters would not be visible on the Advisees page.
3. Fixed the Save Filter button always being disabled on Advising Reporting.

Release #4.0.1.0 - 01/26/2026

Changelog

General

1. Added the ability to send yourself a copy of an email sent via mass emailing.
2. Added in high school GPA as a data field on student accordions.
   1. This is only available if this data is present in the data lake for that student.
3. Added course section number to faculty course boxes.
4. Added access to Global Reporting to the Program Chair role.

Advising

1. No Established Attendance local reporting has been updated for advisors.
   1. This list now populates with students that the system determines have not established attendance, based on CRNs associated with an ongoing progress report campaign.
   2. Additionally, the specific course(s) the student has not established for now have a red marker next to the class title underneath Academics.
   3. This uses the same university definition (unchanged).

Cases

1. Added in case tooltips.
   1. Hovering over the "?" bubble will now show a brief explanation of what a particular case type or subject means.
2. Additional case types for OFE / Advising have been activated.
   
   1. These new case subjects are:
      1. Degree Plan Updates
      2. Content Test Outcomes
      3. Checks Not Passed
      4. Communication Deadline Given to Student
      5. Student Success Plan Needed

Appointments

1. Added the ability to search for a CRN by course title or course subject/number when using Log Appointment.
   
   1. This will be extended to other parts of appointments soon.

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. Fixed a bug where reports would not be immediately shareable just after creation.
2. When changing the case type of a system recommendation for progress reporting, the case comments field is automatically cleared of the default recommendation message.

Release #4.0.0.0 - 01/19/2026

Notes

Retain has been updated such that the default term on load will now be Winter 2026. Spring 2026 data should begin populating later this evening.

Release #3.4.0.0 - 01/13/2026

Notes

This release will be the last major update before the start of the Winter 2026 term. The default term will also switch to Winter 2026 on Monday, January 19th.

Changelog

Reporting

1. Reports have now been made shareable.
   
   1. New "Share" buttons have been added in the UI for Reporting that copy a report's unique URL automatically.
   2. Reports can be shared with anyone that has access to the Reporting module in Retain.
   3. Reports that are shared cannot be modified by others, but can be saved as a new report and modified from then on.
   4. Please be mindful of sharing reports that have data points that are not accessible to other roles.
      1. For example, sharing reports with persistence score filters to folks that do not have access to persistence score data will result in the report just defaulting to loading all students.
      2. We are planning the best way to modify this behavior moving forward to prevent issues sharing reports across roles.
2. Reports now track what kind of report they are (e.g. student vs. cases vs. appointments).
3. A new reporting filter in student reporting has been adding, allowing reporting on Freshman/Sophomore/Junior/Senior standing, according to the university's definitions for those categories by earned credit hour amounts.

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. Cumulative GPA has been moved underneath the Student Info tab.
2. Fixed an issue preventing reading Degreeworks' planned courses past Fall 2025.
3. Fixed an issue where students not registered in Fall 2025 would have Winter 2026 registrations duplicated underneath Fall 2025.
4. Fixed a data issue associated with marked attendance reporting values.

Release #3.3.3.0 - 12/15/2025

Notes

This release primarily adds some extra features, quality-of-life improvements, and some polishing touches. This will be the last major Retain update for 2025, with the next scheduled feature release being January 12th, 2026.

Changelog

Reporting

1. Faculty now have access to the following prebuilt reports on their homepage:
   1. First Year Students
   2. Continuing Students
   3. Transfer Students
   4. Undergraduate Students
   5. Graduate Students
   6. International Students
2. The list-view in Global Reporting can now be toggled to display student accordions rather than row-list records.

Appointments

1. Students will now see all of their scheduled appointments, regardless of how far in advance they are scheduled out.
   1. Previously, they were limited to 1-1.5 month visibility; this cap has been removed.
2. NLU Holidays are now automatically blocked from appointment calendars.
   1. These will be periodically updated throughout the year.

Cases

1. Cases can now be filtered by relevant student N# in addition to their name.

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. Emails sent from Retain now include the sender's full name, in addition to their email address.
   1. This should improve at-a-glance readability in email clients.
2. Improved some UI elements in Cases & Reporting.

Release #3.3.2.0 - 12/08/2025

Notes

This release primarily adjusts the workflow for students scheduling with a department, with some minor bug fixes.

Changelog

Appointments

1. When scheduling with a department, students will now have an adjusted workflow.
   1. Students will first select a department, then a location and service type, and finally select an available time.
   2. The system will present an optional step for a student to select a specialist, but can have the system randomly determine and assign an available specialist if not selected.
      1. Specialists will only be presented as available or randomly selected if they are truly available at that time.
   3. Advisor scheduling, direct-links, and other forms of scheduling remain unchanged.
2. Improved various UI visuals across the scheduling interface.

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. Fixed some edge cases regarding 15-minute appointments for Learning Support.
2. Fixed some appointment data for external appointments leaking into case reporting.
3. Extended role-checks and security coverage across all API endpoints.

Release #3.3.1.0 - 11/25/2025

Changelog

Cases

1. When closing a case individually or en masse, there is now a prompt window that lets you add case closure notes directly to the case without having to leave a comment before closing.
   
   1. The information left in the closure notes is now prominently displayed at the top of a closed case for easy reference.
   2. If you don't see this prompt when closing cases, please clear your cache and cookies and it should appear.
      1. We have taken steps to prevent the Retain front-end client from being cached, but occasionally this is still an issue when a new release comes out.
   3. This has not been retroactively applied to all prior cases, but cases closed on or after 11/24 @ 5PM CT will reflect this new change moving forward.

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. Fixed a bug where Case Reporting would be contain duplicate case records under certain combinations of filter groups.
2. Fixed a bug where the appointment minute(s) field would not calculate properly off of the datetime.
3. Fixed an oversight where the character counter when creating a case counted only plaintext, and not HTML/rich text styling.
4. Improved case subject validation to prevent a rare submission error caused by incorrect subject selection.

Release #3.3.0.0 - 11/17/2025

Notes

This release introduces improvements to advisor caseload loading performance through new pagination, along with the launch of a round-robin text messaging pilot for faculty communications.

Changelog

Advising

1. Advisor caseloads are now pagination-friendly!
   1. When loading your assigned caseload of students (or another's via the Advisor Lookup widget), the server will by default only return up to the first 500 students that are assigned to you.
   2. To load more students, simply click "Load More" on the top right of the screen that contains the student accordions.
   3. For each load request, the server will return the next 500 students, up to the amount of students that are assigned to you (or the person who's caseload you're currently loading).
   4. There is friendly helper-text to indicate how many students out of your total assigned caseload are currently loaded.
   5. This should fix issues where 1,000+ student assignments for a given caseload would always time-out on request.

Communications

1. We have launched the round-robin faculty text messaging pilot with a select group of volunteers.
   1. This system allows Retain to dynamically select a phone number from a pool that guarantees a 1:1 communication channel between a given faculty member and a student.
   2. Given the large amounts of faculty, this system allows us to avoid individual phone number assignments for all faculty (which we cannot support at this time), while still allowing for a dedicated communication channel between a faculty member and a given student.
   3. When students text-back, the response notification will be routed directly back to the faculty member that issued the text.
   4. This does not affect individual, dedicated number assignments (if applicable), or for non-faculty, the general Retain phone number that is currently in use.

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. Fixed a bug where some automatic email-error reports would occasionally result in an opaque 500 error response.

Release #3.2.3.0 - 11/10/2025

Changelog

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. Fixed an edge case where depending on the circumstance, students could still schedule 15-minute appointments with Learning Support.
2. Fixed a bug where trying to edit or remove filters while having more than 10 already set wouldn't allow changes in reporting modules.

Release #3.2.2.0 - 11/03/2025

Notes

This release focuses on adjusting a few appointment-related items, as well as adjusting mobile responsivity for Retain on smaller screens. Additionally, mass-number assignment for all advisors has been completed and all individual numbers have been assigned at this time.

Changelog

Appointments

1. When selecting a career bridge staff member during appointment scheduling, a new appointment type will automatically be selected labeled "Career Bridge".
2. Appointment scheduling rejections based on calculated scheduling conflicts will now send an automatic error email report containing appointment request data for additional investigation.
3. A new appointment menu'ing option has been created for the Accommodations team.
   1. Staff and students should see this new appointment criteria option as "Accommodations Consultation" in-app.

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. Removed UG Timesheet Concern case from case options per request.
2. Pushed out a second round of mobile responsivity improvements to further improve the mobile experience when interacting with students through the global search and assigned caseloads.
   1. We have more mobile responsive adjustments for other modules, such as reporting and engagements, in the pipeline; more on that soon.

Release #3.2.1.0 - 10/27/2025

Notes

This release primarily focuses on improving observability with regards to SMS errors and client crashes, contains bugfixes and UI improvements for the reporting module, and also caps appointment scheduling 3 months out from the current date (moving window).

Individual advisor phone numbers are slated to be mass assigned on Tuesday, 10/28, to facilitate additional feedback before assignment. The previous release notes specified Monday, 10/27 as the latest possible date for individual number assignment; we apologize for the inconvenience and the extra delay.

Changelog

Appointments

1. Appointment scheduling has been capped at 3 months out from the current date.
   1. This is a moving window based on the current date.

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. Fixed some transient issues with global reporting fields that would cause a crash when selecting certain filters.
2. Fixed filter criteria selection occasionally selecting the wrong criteria descriptor in filters. 
3. Fixed display and scrolling issues when adding many filters to a report through UI improvements.
4. Fixed duplicate appointment records appearing when applying certain filters in appointment reporting.
5. Fixed some issues regarding Daylight Savings Time datetime conversions when scheduling appointments.
6. Added automatic email error-reporting to Retain client crashes for observability.
7. Added automatic email error-reporting to Twilio SMS failures for observability.

Release #3.2.0.1 - 10/21/2025

Changelog

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. Fixed a bug causing an endless loading loop on the Log Appointment page.

Release #3.2.0.0 - 10/20/2025

Notes

This release contains a few more quality of life improvements as well as some bug fixes. We are also finalizing internal testing with individual assigned phone numbers, and anticipate having all advisors assigned their own individual phone numbers for texting in Retain by the end of this week, or at the latest Monday, 10/27. Faculty and department staff texting changes to follow in the subsequent weeks.

Changelog

Appointments

1. Re-assigning an appointment that has a location of a Zoom link will automatically fetch the assignee's Zoom link and update the associated appointment booking record.
2. Added the ability to log multiple appointments at the same time.
   1. These will share the same appointment booking date and time, but are useful if adding ad-hoc meetings en masse.

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. Adjusted certain fields in Global Reporting to dynamically fetch a list of possible filter criteria options rather than rely on hardcoded values.
2. Fixed a bug where some appointments would render out an incorrect course title associated with course information supplied when booking appointments.
3. Fixed a bug where LS appointment times would allow sub-30 minute appointments on individual links.
4. Fixed a bug where OFE advisors would not have access to financial aid information.
5. Adjusted a few more display-name fetches to preference preferred first names.
6. Increased the engagement email template editor to allow 20,000 characters.
7. Improved general mobile responsivity for the internal staff view of Retain.
   1. This is the first draft and should improve mobile access initially, but there is still additional work to be done here. Stay tuned!

Release #3.1.1.1 - 10/14/2025

Changelog

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. Tweaked the behavior of appointment cancellations to improve system behavior when deleting the associated Exchange event.
2. Added extra spacing to Zoom locations in appointment confirmation emails to prevent appending extra characters to URLs.

Release #3.1.1.0 - 10/13/2025

(edited 10/14/2025)

Notes

This release primarily resolves a few more bugs that were reported over the preceding weeks. Thanks to everyone for submitting bug reports!

Release #3.1.0.0 and #3.1.1.0 primarily feature bug fixes to improve platform stability. The next few upcoming releases will have features around individual assigned phone numbers, group-based privacy for text messages and notes, and a few other more complex features. Stay tuned!

Changelog

General

1. Adjusted additional areas of the code to preference faculty, staff, and students' preferred first name (if available).
   
   1. Upon review, all areas of the code that interface dynamically with data will preference the preferred first name when retrieving records and writing data.
   2. Please do not hesitate to submit a Feedback Form if you notice anything amiss in this regard.
2. Cancelling an appointment now results in the associated case being automatically cancelled and the appropriate case resolution being applied.
   1. For example, if an appointment cancellation is initiated by a student, it will cancel the case with a resolution description of "Student Cancellation".
   2. In the event of a staff cancellation, it will reflect with a resolution description of "Staff Cancellation".
   3. Both of the aforementioned examples will set the case status to "Cancelled" automatically as well.
3. Added date of birth as a column and a filter to Global Reporting.

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. Fixed a bug preventing role look-ups from returning data in the Retain administrator panel.
2. Fixed an edge case where depending on the way a cancelled appointment was resolved, appointment reminders would still be issued.
3. Fixed a bug where certain escape characters in reporting field values would prevent reports from being downloadable.
4. Added additional validation to filter groups in Reporting and when logging appointments.

Release 3.1.0.0 - 10/06/2025

Notes

This release primarily features several bugfixes to resolve items that were reported within the past several weeks.

Changelog

Reporting

1. Students' city, state, and nation address fields have been made available for department staff, and are extended in Global Reporting as well.
2. Cases now have an indicator marking whether or not they were issued as part of a progress report.
   1. This is both a column and a filter.
   2. This has been retroactively applied to all case records at the database level.
3. Added LE3 and Tau Sigma interest codes (previously unavailable) as filters.

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. Fixed a bug where non-registered students incorrectly displayed their last update date as "09/04/2025" rather than the current date when searching.
2. Fixed a bug where the last available OFE and CB advisor assignments were not available for non-registered students when searching.
3. Fixed a bug where the 30-min buffer for Learning Support appointments was missing on the individual appointment scheduling links.
4. Fixed a bug where the appointment location was not reflecting the translated street address on the internal-facing Appointments screen.
5. Fixed a bug where the appointment location was not reflecting the translated street address for certain appointment reminders.
6. Fixed a bug where appointment reminders would still be sent out for cancelled appointments.
7. Fixed a bug where Zoom links would not be clickable in email reminders for appointments.
8. Fixed fields with quotes causing formatting issues with downloaded CSV reporting files.
9. Fixed a bug where attempting to search for another advisor's caseload that exceeded 1,000 assigned students would cause an error attempting to search.
10. Fixed a bug where attempting to search for a student without basic record information would cause the Retain application to crash.
11. Fixed a bug where the admin control panel would show removed roles as if they were active when searching for a particular user's roles.
12. Fixed a bug where the first global report of the day would be improperly run through role-specific filters.
13. Improved logging verbosity and overall performance/stability of the Exchange synchronization background task.
14. Improved text message error verbosity when a text message could not be delivered through our SMS vendor partner.
15. Added additional protections to prevent double bookings with extra validation checks directly against Exchange.

Release 3.0.1.0 - 09/23/2025

Notes

This mid-week release primarily addresses a few bugs that were introduced with #3.0.0.0.

Changelog

General

1. Removed "% online" from the course meeting times info box from Retain for internal users.
   1. This was done to standardize what both internal staff and students see in this regard to prevent confusion.

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. Fixed a bug where a case would error out after creation but before a student notification was sent (depending on the case).
2. Fixed a bug where the pop-up modal to send an email to students had the Send/Cancel buttons outside of the viewing window.
3. Fixed a bug where in certain circumstances, the case CRN would not be properly included with the relevant case when it was opened.
4. Fixed an oversight that prevented Retain records created on 9/22 and 9/23 being included in the default advisor caseloads and Global Reporting.
   1. This did not affect the global search mechanism or the student-facing view of their courses and associated data.

Release 3.0.0.0 - 09/20/2025

Notes

This release changes the default term in Retain to Fall 2025. Additionally, Winter 2026 will begin appearing as a dropdown item across all term selections in-app.

Changelog

Appointments

1. Students will now see full street addresses when scheduling an appointment.
   1. For example, if a student wishes to schedule for the Gage building, they would have to select "Chicago, 18 S. Michigan Ave" when scheduling an appointment.
      1. The same applies for internal staff when scheduling an appointment on behalf of a student. 
   2. Additionally, all user location options when configuring recurring weekly availability have this updated selection listing as well.
   3. If you notice any modules in-app that are still displaying simply "Chicago" or "Lisle", please let us know via a Feedback Form submission, and we will have the proper address translations applied in a future bugfix.

General

1. The default term for advisor caseloads has been adjusted to Fall 2025.
2. Winter 2026 is now available as a term for caseload selection.
3. Not Registered for Next Term (Active & Admit) reports will stay reading students that are not registered for Fall 2025 until after the add/drop date.
   1. We will communicate this out clearly once we flip it to Winter 2026.
4. The student search will now attempt to first read data in the Fall 2025 term, then subsequently the Winter 2026 term, and then scrape the data lake if the student is not registered for either of the two aforementioned terms.

Global Reporting

1. Winter 2026 is now available as a reporting term.

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. Removed "% online" text from meeting times in the student-facing view.
2. Added some helper text to error messages to provide information to users in Retain that do not yet have a role assigned.

Release 2.8.0.1 - 09/16/2025

Notes

The updated appointment reminders announced in #2.8.0.0 will go live this evening, 09/16. Previously, they were expected to be made live 09/15. This decision was made to accommodate additional test cases and QA checking before making it live. We apologize for any inconvenience!

Changelog

Bugs & Miscellaneous

1. Fixed a display issue with individual texting that made it difficult to back out of the confirmation screen.
2. Fixed a bug that would cause Global Reporting to show no available students under certain reporting conditions.

Release 2.8.0.0 - 09/15/2025

Notes

This release enhances appointments with full addresses, Zoom links, and participant details, while expanding accessibility across roles. Communications now include clearer message identifiers and improved CSV engagement. Students can view both current and next term schedules, LS/Library case descriptions are exportable, and progress reports can be generated via file upload. Additional bug fixes and refinements are also included.

Changelog

General

1. Class day/meeting times and locations have been added to previous and future courses.
   1. Please note this will be made available later in the business day as daily processing for current and next term students finishes automatically.
2. The number of characters allowed in emails has been increased from 4,000 to 20,000 characters.
3. Added the ability to hide SYSTEM messages in a student's Actions tab.
4. Added loading visuals throughout the app.

Appointments

1. Appointment accessibility has been expanded across all appointments via students' Actions' tabs.
   1. The view button is available by default now for all roles.
2. Participant names have been added to the appointment reminders.
   1. This will take effect the evening of 09/15, after the close of business, to allow for a stable switchover to the new background task responsible for appointment reminders.
3. Student profiles can now be quickly viewed from the appointment page.
4. Appointment location (or Zoom link, if applicable) has been added to the student view of appointments.
5. Full street locations have replaced shorthand campus locations across the app.
   1. For example, instead of displaying "Chicago", the app will now display "Chicago, 122 S. Michigan Ave".
   2. This has not yet been applied to menu options for selecting an appointment, but will appear in place of location displays across the app.
   3. If you see an appointment location displaying the non-translated addresses, please feel free to submit a Feedback Form ticket and we'll investigate.
6. Students are now prevented from scheduling appointments less than 30 minutes for all Learning Support appointment types.
   1. Internally, LS/Library can still schedule for 15 minutes if they choose to do so.
7. A field for "minutes" has been added to the Appointment Log form.
   1. The end time will automatically update when the minutes field is changed.
8. Appointment Logging now defaults to the most recent 5-minute increment for the start/end time of the appointment.

Communication

1. All texts sent from Retain now prepend an identifier to each message, verbatim as follows:
   1. "From John Smith at NLU:"
   2. "John Smith" would naturally be replaced by the user's first and last name.
   3. In the event the system cannot detect the user's first and last name, the prepended identifier is simply "NLU:".
2. Mass engagement via CSV upload now explicitly shows a count of students that the system will attempt to message in a confirmation dialog.
3. Mass engagement via CSV upload now creates an appropriate database record for logging and monitoring.

Students

1. Students can now switch between current term and next term in the app, in the event they wish to view their schedule for the upcoming term.
2. Added page title and description for each page on the student view.
3. Optimized student view for both desktop and mobile views.

Advising

1. Removed term switch from Advisor Lookup.
   1. This switch did not update the student list, so it has been temporarily removed for clarity.

Reporting

1. Case description for all types of LS/Library cases can now be exported.
   1. All other case descriptions will remain blank in reporting, intentionally, for data confidentiality indefinitely.

Progress Reports

1. Progress reports can now be generated via a file upload.
2. Changing the progress report create date in the admin dashboard now automatically reloads statistics for the given progress report wave based on the create date.

Bugs & Miscellaneous

1. Fixed a bug where progress reports would incorrectly show students that had dropped/withdrawn from the class.
2. Fixed a bug where department staff did not have permissions to the monthly calendar sync request.
3. The image upload button has been removed from the text editor for emails.
   1. This option was not officially supported by Retain, so the button has been removed until support is in place to allow for images in emails.

Release 2.7.0.0 - 09/08/2025

Notes

Changelog

General

1. The global student look-up function has been greatly expanded to cover all non-registered students.
   1. Before, the system would only return results via the student look-up if the student was registered in the current or next term.
      1. As of this moment, that would be Summer 2025, then Fall 2025, respectively.
   2. Now, the system will also conduct a third, small search against the data lake on demand to scrape the same information that is made available with registered students, who are regularly processed.
      1. This is an automatic process that happens when running a student search. 
      2. Records that are returned under these conditions now have a small red exclamation point on their student records, next to the "Last Updated" text on their accordion, as a quick identifier
   3. We will also be working on a diagram to better visually represent this process.
   4. If you have any issues or questions with the new student search, please fill out a Feedback Form ticket, and we will do our best to follow up.
2. Advisors now have two new premade reports.
   1. The first report is titled "Not Registered for Next Term (Active)".
   2. The second report is titled "Not Registered for Next Term (Admit)".
   3. Both of these reports show the aforementioned populations of students where the user is their currently assigned primary advisor.
   4. These reports contain some basic information that was considered helpful at a glance; these reports can also be downloaded.
   5. Clicking on one of the students in the report will run the on-demand search (changes noted above in #1) and scrape the currently available information for the student from the data lake.
   6. This report is updated daily as part of the regular data provisioning process.
      1. If a student is registered midday or in the evening, the report should drop them off accordingly the following day, and the student should appear in default caseloads for a term the following day after data is finished processing.

Release 2.6.0 - 09/02/2025

Notes

This release changes the way that data is provisioned in Retain for student loading and reporting. Moving forward, for a student to be routinely updated in Retain (daily), and to appear in default caseloads, they must be registered in the current or next term. This primarily impacts advisors; faculty caseloads of students remains the same. For a student to appear in Global Reporting for terms after and including the current term (Summer 2025), students must have been registered in that given term for them to appear in reports moving forward.

We will be extending the search functionality to allow for an on-demand data search for any non-registered student (from any population) on 09/15. This should cover look-ups of all registered and non-registered students, while providing a logical separation and clear definition of who is updated daily and who appears in reports.

For additional questions, please submit a Feedback Form ticket, and we will do our best to follow up.

Changelog

General

1. Attempted/Earned Credit Hour fields now sum the total of applied transfer credits and institutional earned credit in their respective values.
2. Added loading indicator to user search fields.

Appointments

1. Implemented a set of fixes for student workers encountering issues with updating and canceling appointments.
2. Added the ability to view your own calendar in Retain from a student's perspective.
   1. This can be viewed by clicking the "Preview" button above the Availability configuration screen, next to the save button.
3. Added the ability to request an on-demand sync request for a given month in Retain.
   1. In the event that your calendar might not be up to date, you can manually request this at any time.
   2. This is an asynchronous operation, so it may take several minutes (up to 15) before your preview calendar appears up to date in the system.
4. Fixed a bug where some OFE advisors would not see any options to schedule with when scheduling an appointment.
5. Minor visual tweaks to the Appointments list.

Global Reporting

1. For students to appear in Global Reporting for the term you're filtering on, students will need to have been registered in that term to be included in that particular Retain report.
   1. This does not change case/appointment/engagement reporting, only student reporting.
2. Filters have been updated and fixed en masse.
   1. The list of fixes is too long for this notice, but we resolved all of the bugs identified in through a meticulous QA process.

Release 2.5.0 - 08/25/2025

Changelog

General

1. Student phone numbers have been adjusted to use the country code that is associated on their student profile in Banner. 

Appointments

1. Implemented a second set of fixes for student workers encountering issues with scheduling appointments.
2. Added extra appointment verification logic when the system schedules appointments, to better prevent appointment scheduling conflicts or over booking.
3. Added weekday labels to the appointment calendar.
4. Improved validation/error messaging when scheduling appointments.

Bugs & Miscellaneous

1. Fixed a bug where switching from Student to certain roles would cause the screen to flicker.

Release 2.4.2 - 08/18/2025

Changelog

Appointments

1. Fixed a bug where trying to edit an appointment's date would cause a crash.

Reporting

1. Fixed some bugs with scrolling in the Filter sidebar.
2. Miscellaneous style upgrades in the Reporting app.

Release 2.4.1.1 - 08/11/2025

Changelog

Appointments

1. Fixed a bug where dates without availability could be selected when scheduling an appointment.

Release 2.4.1 - 08/11/2025

Notes

This release enforces student worker SSO use when accessing Retain, aligning with IT policy. It also expands case comment limits to 20,000 characters and introduces new Student Category filters to Global Reporting. Appointment scheduling for student workers has been updated, and several UI improvements and bug fixes have been applied, including time zone labeling and course date accuracy.

Changelog

General

1. Role permissions have been adjusted slightly for student workers.
   1. Student workers must now access Retain via their student worker SSO account.
   2. In the event a student logs in to Retain and tries accessing their student worker role, it will prompt them to re-log in with their student worker account.
   3. This change was made to bring Retain in line with general IT policy for student workers.

Cases

1. Case comments have been adjusted to allow for comments up to 20,000 characters.
   1. This limit can be increased if needed.
   2. Please submit a Feedback Form request with your use case if you need a larger comment length.

Reporting

1. Added two new columns + filters to Global Reporting to allow for specific population reporting.
   1. Student Category Code
   2. Student Category Description
2. Added an informational message to the Term filter.
   1. Students won't be loaded until a filter other than "Term" has been selected or added.

Appointments

1. Implemented the first draft fix to student workers having issue scheduling appointments.
   1. As student workers are added into Retain, please fill out a Feedback Form with their N# and email address.
   2. We keep a list of student workers for tracking purposes. If they are still having issues with appointment scheduling, please reach out to us to ensure we know about them.

Bugs & Miscellaneous

1. Marking an all-day exception in Appointments now turns the selected day red after saving.
2. Standardized references to time zones in the UI as Central Time (CT).
   1. This will be accounted for across application notifications/reminders this upcoming Monday.
3. Fixed a bug where course start and end dates would be off by 1 day due to datetime localization.

Release 2.4.0.1 - 08/05/2025

Notes

This midweek release increases visibility for outbound appointment reminders for students, adding additional logging for them underneath student records. It also resolves a case sensitivity issue regarding external appointment validation and a reported bug with filters.

Changelog

Appointments

1. The external scheduling mechanism has been adjusted to allow for a case insensitive match on student first or last name.

Communication

1. Appointment reminders have been updated.
   1. Appointment reminders now log underneath students' Actions tabs when they receive an appointment reminder text and email, under the SYSTEM user.
   2. The SMS mechanism for notifying staff of student text message replies has been refreshed to ignore these system-generated messages.

Bugs & Miscellaneous

1. Fixed an issue where loading a filter group would improperly mark all filters as deprecated.
2. Enhanced error handling when loading students' Actions tabs.
3. Small UI enhancements.

Release 2.4.0 - 08/04/2025

Notes

A bugfix for case comments being capped unnecessarily short has been tested in QA and is ready to deploy. A database column migration needs to occur before this can happen; as a result, this fix will be deployed on 8/11.

Our Known Issues tracking sheet is now live! Please refer to this page for a listing of known minor/major issues affecting Retain, their root causes, in-progress solutions, and remediation steps (if applicable).

A feature was added on July 10th, 2025, that was not indicated in previous release notes, affecting self-scheduling an appointment for a student in Retain. Staff members have the ability to override their own unavailability when scheduling an appointment in-app. This was a feature request from a department team at the time. If this caused any confusion regarding the Exchange sync process, we apologize for the inconvenience.

Changelog

General

1. Advising listings have been updated to clean out non-advisors.
   1. This will continue to be cleaned up early this week, so more people may drop off as they are identified as non-advisors.

Admin

1. Added the basic components for a web-accessible admin panel for increased Helpdesk and IT support.
   1. This will gradually be fleshed out with additional functionality in the coming weeks.
2. Added additional system monitoring notifications on table counts, daemon status, and more for improved system stability and performance.

Appointments

1. Added a global user search when modifying someone else's availability, and for management to search for an individual's active, upcoming appointments.
2. Fixed Library type appearing twice in appointments.

Communications

1. Increased the daily personal limit for sending text messages to 7,000 from 3,000.
   1. This limit still resets every 16 hours.

Engagements

1. Refreshed the layout for displaying current & active engagements.
2. New workflow process for saving info, rather than a simple vertical listing.
3. Added the ability to create free form filters for engagement-run criteria.
4. Added the ability to create recurring engagements.

Global Reporting

1. Moved term selection in to the filter sidebar.
   1. Term selection uses the current term as a default value when none is supplied.
2. Fixed report settings not being consistent after page refresh.

Bugs & Miscellaneous

1. Fixed a bug where attempting to update personal Zoom links before configuring weekly recurring availability would silently fail.
2. Fixed a bug where selecting the time for an appointment would inadvertently allow for an appointment with the same start and end times.
3. Fixed a bug where scheduling an appointment allowed modifying the location without reloading scheduling availability for an individual at that specified location.
4. Fixed a bug where some users could not see appointment types (7/31).

Release 2.3.1 - 07/28/2025

Announcement

This week's changelog may feel rather brief, but we are transitioning to a 2-week release cycle to capture more bugs and errors as a result of greater QA participation from technical and non-technical staff alike. Bugfixes will still be scheduled weekly, but minor+ features will be released every two weeks.

The first major update in this regard is scheduled for 08/04, and the following major update is scheduled for 08/18. There is still a bugfix released scheduled for 08/11.

Changelog

Students

1. Removed the placeholder "Edit" button on appointment blocks in the student view.
   1. Students can cancel, but not edit appointments.
2. Removed "Drop Off Essays" and "Assignment Reviews" from the student view's Learning Support options (by request).

Bugs & Miscellaneous

1. Fixed a bug where mass communication would error out attempting to send a message to more than 1,000 students.

Automation

1. Completed a successful test run of the automated notification and case creation for SAP statuses.
2. Added additional system monitoring alerts for improved stability and system performance.

Release 2.3.0 - 07/21/2025

Changelog

Students

1. Added a visual indicator to actions that the user is the author of under students' Actions tabs.
   1. Users will no longer see the "View" button on cases/appointments they do not have access to.
2. Added an initial version of the low engagement filter (not available in Global Reporting).
   1. This works off of a student's recorded D2L engagement.
   2. This will be expanded to Global Reporting in the future. Stay tuned!

Cases

1. Added the ability to edit case comments.
   
   1. Edits are only able to be made within 1 week of the comment posting (or last edit date, whichever is later).

Appointments

1. Added the ability to upload files when logging appointments.
2. Appointment Edit now provides a visual indicator for changed, but unsaved data.
3. When scheduling an appointment, students can now select their course from a dropdown instead of typing the CRN.

Global Reporting

1. Renamed some appointment & cases fields in Global Reporting to make them more clear.
2. Filters that require a person (e.g. Case Owner, Advisors) now provide a user dropdown.
3. Clicking a row in Cases or Appointments Reporting will now open the relevant case/appointment in a new tab.

Bugs & Miscellaneous

1. Fixed a bug where Appointment Edit would not show the original meeting person's name.
2. Fixed a bug where sorting would not work on a student listing page.

Release 2.2.0 - 07/14/2025

Changelog

General

1. Incoming students for Fall 2025 can now be searched for via Global Search.
2. Default advisor and program chair lists will now automatically pull in incoming students as well.
   1. Specifying which term to use in the Advisees page will always enforce term-date boundaries for filtering.
   2. Incoming students will initially be processed weekly on Sundays, and should appear after the processing job is done.
      1. If a student and/or their data appears to be missing, please fill out the feedback form and we will investigate.

Appointments

1. Appointments can now optionally be created with an CRN to associate a course with an appointment.
2. Added the ability to view other users' upcoming appointments for managerial purposes.
3. Added appointment location to each appointment's widget.
4. Students will now be presented with the option to cancel appointments in the app.
5. An additional, automated reminder text message has been created to notify appointment parties within 5 minutes of an appointment.
   1. This will take effect for new appointments moving forward.

Global Reporting

1. Added a term select dropdown to Global Reporting.
   1. This is to accommodate reporting in different periods (e.g. you wish to report on available data for incoming students in Fall 2025).

Bugs & Miscellaneous

1. Added version/release date to the left hand menu for easier tracking.
2. Fixed a bug where appointments would occasionally not contain the proper location.
3. Fixed a bug where opening Load Report would crash Retain.
4. Advisor lookup list has been updated to only pull in current employees.

Release 2.1.0 - 07/07/2025

Changelog

Global Reporting

1. Charts can now be created via the "Charting" button in Global Reporting.

Appointments

1. Scheduling an appointment with a service type no longer requires the service type to be selected multiple times.
2. Minor improvements to the scheduling UI.

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. Fixed a display issue when scheduling an appointment on the Team Schedule view.
2. Graph tooltips now show both X and Y values, as well as units, when hovering over data.
3. Bar graph colors have been changed to a blue theming.
4. Clicking on a student name/NLUID when viewing students no longer opens the dropdown.
   1. This should make copying and pasting these values easier.

Release 2.0.0 - 06/30/2025

Changelog

Global Reporting

1. Global Reporting has been significantly expanded! You can now report globally on cases, appointments, and engagement campaigns inside of Retain.
2. Some fields have had their displays updated to be more clean when viewed in reporting

Mass Communication

1. Mass communication has been expanded to allow for bulk case creation, appointment creation, and email notifications for student ID lists.

Engagement

1. Fixed a bug where some data would not load correctly when editing a campaign.
2. Added loading/confirmation messages when saving campaign.

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. Fixed some data issues where summer semester students would be missing course & grade data.
2. Fixed an issue where summer semester students would not be pulled in by default in faculty lists.
3. Fixed a bug where appointments would fail to create if the location was too long.
4. Adjusted the advisor dropdown list to only contain currently employed advising staff members.
5. Fixed a bug where the "Not Equal To" filter was broken in local & global reporting.
6. Fixed a bug where some dropdown menus passed an incorrect value.

Release 1.10.0 - 06/23/2025

Changelog

General

1. Location data from appointments is now tracked for all appointments moving forward.
2. Tweaked case assignment logic to be more in-line with expected behavior.
3. Removed unnecessary placeholder text from certain student-facing template emails.

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. Fixed a bug where attempting to send a very long email message to a student would push the send & cancel buttons off-screen and remain inaccessible.
2. Fixed a bug where students already in Summer term (semester-based programs) would not load data with the correct term.
   1. This issue has been fixed moving forward and should resolve all cross-term conflicts in the future.
3. Added the ability to send a student an email to their personal email.
4. Fixed a bug where the schedule KPI dashboard would fail silently with no visible error message.
5. Temporarily removed enrolled credit hours from students' Academics tab to address an issue where it was pulling in the wrong term.

Release 1.9.1 - 06/17/2025

Changelog

General

1. Saved reports on the landing page of Retain now link to Global Reporting in addition to local reporting.
   
   1. Clicking on the "Assigned Students" button automatically applies filters and columns from a saved report to your currently loaded list of assigned students, navigating you to local reporting.
   2. Clicking on the "All Students" button automatically applies the same filters and columns from a saved report against all students, and will navigate you to Global Reporting.

Release 1.9.0 - 06/16/2025

Changelog

Student Data

1. Added instructor names to pre-registered course data.
2. Added credit hours to course history data.
   1. Credit hours are now visible per previous attempted course.
   2. Attempted and earned credit hours are now available and current for the given term, if applicable.
3. Fixed credit hours not appearing for courses under students' Academics tabs.

Appointments

1. Successfully confirming an appointment will not automatically reload the page to refresh meeting availability times.

Global Reporting

1. Added the number of students and loading times to the results table.

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. Fixed a bug where the advisor search function was not working properly.

Release 1.8.0 - 06/09/2025

Changelog

Roles

1. Roles have been significantly restructured to streamline usability and maintainability.
2. Individual department roles have been consolidated into a unified Department Staff role that contains all of the previous permissions assigned.
3. Program chairs now have a dropdown to switch the student list they see under the advising tab.
   1. This toggle can be found on the main student listing page.
   2. This replaces the role toggling that was previously in the left-hand menu.
4. Dean and college administrator roles are currently in the final stages of testing before assignment in Retain. 

Appointments

1. Appointment links now allow first time students to schedule appointments.
2. When accessing an appointment link, students will now have a simple workflow to continue scheduling based on whether they are a new or continuing student. 
3. Appointment quick-links have been adjusted to the new proper URLs.
   1. Previously provided appointment links will continue to function uninterrupted.

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. Cases page now displays a loading message when cases are populating on page load.
2. Fixed an issue where searching for a student by both first and last name would return no results.
3. Fixed an issue where certain filters would not apply to lists of students in Global Reporting.
4. Fixed an issue where certain case filtering buttons would be reset when going to a case and returning to the home page.
5. Added additional existing filters for student lists to a few roles.

Release 1.7.0 - 06/02/2025

Changelog

Global Reporting

1. Global Reporting is now live!
   1. This will allow customization of student lists based on virtually any reportable data point available in Retain.
   2. These reports can be saved, loaded, and refreshed in a manner consistent with local reporting options for default student lists.
   3. All students that are currently incorporated in Retain can appear in reports.

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. Fixed some visual bugs with page numbers and arrow spacing.
2. Searching for users, filters, and other interactions can now be navigated with keyboard inputs.
3. Fixed an issue where sorting would not properly take effect in Global Reporting.
4. Fixed a bug where saved reports would not load correctly in Global Reporting.

Release 1.6.0 - 05/26/2025

This release included significant underlying architectural improvements to enhance the application's stability, performance, and future scalability. These foundational updates are not reflected in the user-facing changelog below but are integral to this release.

Changelog

General

1. A new role has been created for International Advisors.
   1. This role has the same base permissions as advisors, but loads the list of current active international students by default.

Release 1.5.0 - 05/19/2025

Changelog

General

1. Added search for custom reports on My Students homepage.
2. Added multiple filters and reporting columns for student data fields that were previously unreportable.

Student Data

1. Students' earned and attempted credit hours have been added to the Student Overview tab.
2. Students' interest codes are now displayed on the Student Overview tab.
3. Students' term GPAs have been added to the GPA History tab.
4. CRNs and instructors for prior courses have been added to the Course History tab.

Cases

1. Email notifications originating from the Retain notification inbox now have the sender labeled as the NLU Student Success Team.

Appointments

1. Log Appointment now allows for specifying an end time and an optional automatic closure reason.
2. Appointment reminders now specify that the times provided are in CST.
   1. This will be effective as new appointment reminders are processed.

Progress Reports

1. Comments are now required if commentary is selected for a student.

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. Fixed a bug where loading & progress messages would not disappear appropriately.
2. Fixed a bug where instructor names were missing from student course data.
3. Fixed a bug where the DegreeWorks link was broken on student accordions.

Release 1.4.0 - 05/12/2025

Changelog

General

1. All references to faculty/staff/student first names have been updated throughout the application to use the preferred name supplied from Banner.
   1. If the preferred name is blank or not recorded, the default will be the individual's legal first name.

Student Data

1. Students' attempted/earned credit hours are available for filters/reporting.
   1. This will become available as data is finished processing today (05/12).

Cases

1. Queue superusers can now reassign cases in bulk.

Appointments

1. Team schedule now shows 8AM - 10PM instead of 12AM - 12AM.
   1. The start/end time can be adjusted as needed.

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. Fixed a bug where participants' first names were missing in appointment confirmation emails.
2. Username and NLUID have been added above the role toggle in the navigation menu.

Post-Release Fixes

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. Fixed a bug where Retain would crash when looking up a student via global search.
2. Fixed a visual bug where cases would not appear to close after closing them.

Future Updates

1. Global reporting will be available on the next release (1.5.0 on 05/19).
   1. This will allow customization of lists of students based on currently available reporting criteria.
   2. This functionality has been pushed back for 1.6.0 on 05/26 to accommodate additional testing.

Release 1.3.1 - 05/06/2025

Changelog

Cases

1. Cases now show the relevant course associated with the case (if applicable).
   1. Cases created after 05/05/2025 will capture this information.

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. Fixed a bug where cases with empty descriptions could not be downloaded.

Release 1.3.0 - 05/05/2025

Changelog

Cases

1. Case notification behavior has been tweaked in line with feedback, to reduce the volume of emails that Retain generates.
   1. When opening a case, only the assignee will receive an email that a case has been created. Assignees are auto-determined by the server at the case creation.
   2. When closing a case, only the original owner will receive an email that a case had been closed.
   3. Email notifications for case comments have been removed.
   4. Case assignment notifications when a case is manually re-assigned to a target user have been left intact.
2. Case type has been removed as a column in the Cases table, as all Appointments are now stored in a separate page.
3. Cases can now be downloaded in CSV format.

Appointments

1. Appointments are now in a separate location from cases.
   1. Upcoming/past appointments are now available on the Appointments page under the Appointments app.
2. Appointments now show date/time in the case view.
3. Past appointments can now be downloaded in CSV format.

Actions

1. Retain will now send users an email when a student texts them back.
   1. In-app notifications will remain live for this purpose, in tandem.
   2. Please do not reply to the Retain notification email.
      1. To reply to a student, please navigate in Retain to their Actions' tab and respond to the student there.
   3. We are evaluating implementing email-reply to send a text-back to a student in a future update (TBD).
2. Individual text-messaging caps have been raised from 500 to 3,000 text messages per day.
   1. This limit can be increased as needed.
3. Email communications now uses a rich text editor with a 3500 character limit.

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. Various style and display improvements.

Release 1.2.2 - 04/30/2025

Changelog

Progress Reports

1. Progress Reports now only send 1 single completion email to faculty after all reports are complete.

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. Fixed a bug where certain roles could not authenticate via 2FA.
2. Fixed a bug where certain case types would not be properly assigned to a designated target user.

Release 1.2.1 - 04/29/2025

Changelog

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. Adjusted initial role selection to favor non-student roles for faculty/staff.

Release 1.2.0 - 04/28/2025

Changelog

Cases

1. Added ability to select and close multiple cases at once.
   1. Cases and Appointments cannot be selected/closed at the same time due to the different case closure reasons.
2. Assigning a case now automatically triggers a notification to the assignee that a new case has been assigned to them.
3. Leaving case comments no longer triggers a case update notification to the commenter.
4. Case routing parameters were tweaked slightly in line with department needs.
5. Added "No Show" as a case closure reason for appointments.
6. Adjusted advisor appointment reasons, to the following list:
   1. New Student Appointment
   2. Registration
   3. General Advising/Questions
   4. SAP/SAR Discussion
   5. Quarterly Check-In

Progress Reports

1. Progress reports now automatically apply "No" (no concern) to unmarked students when submitting a progress report.
2. Filters have been added to sort by first/last name, similar to D2L.

Communication

1. Invalid phone numbers are no longer able to be clicked on in Student Overview.
2. When sending a text, students with invalid phone numbers will not have a message sent.
   1. If a student has an invalid phone number, you will see "Invalid phone number" under their name instead of their phone number.
   2. If one or more students have an invalid phone number, a message will appear notifying you that one or more messages will not be delivered.
   3. If all selected students have an invalid phone number, the send button will be disabled and messages will not be able to be sent.
3. Added mass texting via Spreadsheet upload under Engagement tab.

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. Fixed a bug with appointment types not being pulled in correctly.
2. Fixed application crashes for students that were missing certain data from the current term.
3. Fixed Referral to Career Bridge Advisor case-type not pulling in the student's correct CBA advisor as the assigned owner.
4. Minor general style upgrades.

Release 1.1.0 - 04/21/2025

Changelog

Cases

1. Case notification emails have been updated to include snapshot details of the case.
2. "Duplicate Case" has been added to the list of closure reasons.

Progress Reports

1. Added bulk action and reporting tools for Progress Reports.

Bugfixes & Miscellaneous

1. General visual cleanup and improvements, especially in the Cases module.
2. Navigation menu closes automatically when clicking off of it.
3. Added default colors to support older browsers without light/dark mode controls.

Release 1.0.3 - 04/10/2025

Changelog

Appointments

1. Appointment participants are now listed with their preferred first name in appointment notification emails.

Bugs

1. Fixed an issue where updates to cases would occasionally issue duplicate emails to notified recipients.
2. Fixed an issue where students creating appointments in the EST time zone would see improperly offset Retain availability times.

Release 1.0.2 - 04/08/2025

Changelog

Alerts

1. Alerts now support clickable links.
   1. This feature will first be used to share updates about Retain. Stay tuned for more!

Release 1.0.0 - 04/07/2025

Changelog

1. Retain is now live for the general university community!