ABS Update History

Release	Changes / New Features / Instructions
2.14.31.182	ABS Calendar : the Tools > Preferences menu in the main Account screen let's you pick the ABS Calendar or Microsoft Outlook™. Now, if you pick ABS, you can also choose between Manual , *Automatic* , or *Semi-Automatic* event maintenance of old calendar entries [deleting them]. It also lets you specify how old they must be before they are deleted. IMPORTANT : *Automatic* will perform the event maintenance each day without notice. It will use the event age specified under Tools > Preferences > Calendar. *Semi-Automatic* will perform the event maintenance each day but will ask first. It will use the event age specified under Tools > Preferences > Calendar. If you are currently using the ABS Calendar. *Manual* will not perform the event maintenance. Note: this release will default to this setting. To perform this task manually, open the ABS Calendar and select the Edit menu. CAUTION : This process can be done from any workstation, and will affect appointments for all users, not just the user at the workstation performing this task. You should establish a policy for this procedure within your office. Since this procedure affects everyone's appointments, we suggest setting all workstations to *Manual* except for the agent, or the office administrator, or a trusted individual, who is responsible for this task. Dashboard Bridge once again accommodates a mixture of Multi-Car and Single-Car policies in the same account. This is a fix to adapt to recent changes within the Dashboard web pages. Word processor selection has been simplified. Selecting Tools > Preferences > Word Processor allows you to pick from a list rather than the previous somewhat confusing graphic buttons. Nothing else about word processing has changed, only the method of selecting which word processor will be your default. Automatic License Registration can be done via the Internet or it can be done manually, as in the past. Automatic License Renewal depends on the ability of ABS to access our web server. If ABS is blocked by your Internet Security Software, then Automatic License Renewal will not work, and you will need to enter registration codes manually.
2.14.31.180	Commercial Vehicle List (printed report) now includes VIN. Dashboard Bridge now handles Multi-Car Policy properly in all States including Texas. It also can detect mixtures of Multi-Car and Single-Car policies and handles them both properly, even when in the same household. Dashboard Bridge now only updates the ABS Inception Date if it is missing in ABS. This was done to prevent errors caused by inconsistent date usage by Farmers in their date display in Dashboard. Dashboard Bridge no longer updates Policy Name/Description since Farmers doesn't publish that information on Dashboard.
2.14.30.179	A few minor fixes - mostly with Dashboard Bridge.
2.14.30.178	NEW: Policy Endorsements . The auto, fire, boat, and commercial screens have a new " endorsement " tab at the bottom of their screens. This permits you to keep track of any policy endorsement. This release includes a "starter" list of endorsements so you can pick from an editable drop-down list that can be made to include the endorsements offered by your carriers. Please make sure to edit the list to suit your agency. Editing the list is done from the Edit Menu of the Policy Screens NOT the Account Screen. This keeps the endorsements segregated so that the drop-down list on the Auto Screen will only contain auto endorsements -- ditto with the Fire Screen. These changes help prepare your database for carrier downloads but also offer increased info and flexibility for those without that option. NEW: Dashboard bridge - Speed Enhancements . It is no longer necessary to view Coverage pages when getting Auto or Fire Policy info. All information is now acquired from the Dashboard Auto and Home Summary pages so you will no longer see Get VIN or Get Covg . This is a majo NEW: Dashboard bridge expanded data capture . In addition to the previous Auto, Fire, and Life information, the bridge now acquires basic policy information for, Commercial, Recreational Vehicles, Umbrellas, and Boats. It also captures Claims History and updates ABS. All this is done with no additional activity on your part. NEW: Plan field may be customized . The drop-down list for the Plan field on the Account screen can now be edited so you can use your own values in that field. The predefined query for Plan allows filtering and sorting on the values in the Plan field so you can easily retrieve lists of accounts based on values in that field. NEW: Document Manager File Size Reduction . Photos taken at high resolution take up a lot of unnecessary disk space. There are two new features under the "Document" menu. 1) Reduce Image Storage Requirements, and 2) Convert Image to .JPG (Resample). Either of these choices will reduce the size of the image file without noticeably reducing image quality. Either option will reduce storage requirements, but using both options will dramatically reduce storage requirements. This also reduces the time it takes to locate and display an image. It also reduces the size and time required for backing up your data. Back up your data (and documents) before using these features . NEW: Document Manager image sorting . Under the "View" menu, you now have the option to change the sort order. Documents can be sorted by Document Date, Category, or Caption. This should help organize images, especially in accounts that have a lot of documents. NEW: Document Manager maintenance utility . A maintenance/utility program is available that will automatically find large photos and reduce their storage requirements. This utility is not built into ABS Document Manager, but can be run independently. Contact ABS Technical Support for instructions if you decide this utility is required. Back up your data (and documents) before contacting ABS . NEW: Predefined Queries : A couple of new queries have been added that should help those who export client information to be used in PDAs or cell phone contact lists. They include all phone numbers (account and family members), and email addresses. NEW: Forms Boss users sometimes make the mistake of assigning the wrong Forms Boss account to an ABS account. Under TOOLS, on the main account screen, you will now find a menu item named "Remove Link to Forms Boss for this account." Using that tool removes the existing incorrect link so you can re-create the proper link to the Forms Boss account using the established procedure. NEW: Inter-Office Messages (Buckslips) . When multiple messages are waiting, they will all be displayed in the order they were entered, with one exception. Now, messages marked Urgent will be displayed first. In the past, only the first message was automatically displayed, any other additional messages had to be viewed manually. FIX: Policies Renewed or Cancelled Today This query has been updated to produce more accurate information. FIX: Single Label The entity name will now print on single labels. Previously it would only print when creating labels from a query. FIX: Editing Member Data sometimes made ABS freeze . Previously, when entering or editing Driver's License or Social Security Numbers, if you clicked out of the Members Grid while the cursor was in one of those fields the program would appear to freeze. That problem is fixed with this release. We believe this was because the encryption process only operates when the Member information is saved. Clicking out of the Member Grid will now automatically save changes to member data which forces the encryption process to finish.
2.13.30.142	This release was not distributed outside of ABS. It was only for alpha product testing prior to release 2.14.
2.12.29.141	NEW. A predefined query provides a list of accounts that can be specified by the first letter of the last name. It is like asking for all households with a last name beginning with A, or B, or between E and H (or any letters between A and Z). This is in the Customer Relations and Retention group NEW. A predefined query produces a list of email addresses. This is a single list combining all email addresses from Households and Members. This is in the Customer Relations and Retention group. NEW. The ABS System Administration program now has a “save” button to help assure that newly added users, or changes to existing users are preserved FIX. Vehicle renewal dates are now renewed correctly. Previously the vehicle renewal dates were made incorrectly during the daily automatic maintenance procedure. Policy renewal dates have always been correct; this problem only affected the vehicles, not the policies NEW. Date ranges of the drop-down calendars have been expanded to automatically allow selection of dates further into the future. NEW. Activity Log no longer inserts a default member name, which forces users to select a family member. This was requested because users often accepted the default out of expediency, which was frequently incorrect. FIX. Activity Log sometimes changed the specified family member after spell-checking. This update fixes that. NEW. Double Clicking the Member grid will add the household first and last name as a new member, but only if that first and last name does not already exist. FIX. The Data Restore program will now restore from multiple diskette backups. Previously it would backup properly but not restore. This only applies to backups made to Diskettes. NEW. The Receipt Manager now has two settlement report printing options; an Expanded report with page breaks between carriers, and a Condensed report without page breaks. The condensed report saves paper in some offices. NEW. The Receipt Manager has added additional safeguard against employee dishonesty. There are a few other very minor changes not listed above.
2.12.28.133	New Backup and Restore programs designed for large backups made necessary when storing large numbers of documents (paperless office). Marketing Campaigns enhanced to permit easier editing of the Recipient List. Additional MRU's added to the bottom of the File menu. New query that lists all policies for all carriers. The results may be filtered and sorted to give lists of clients insured by specific carriers. Dashboard Bridge has been updated to handle recent web page changes. Additionally, the bridge can now acquire all fire policies in multi-policy accounts. Commercial screens have been reverted to the original method of entering coverage amounts. This permits entering coverage of any dollar amount. The on-line manual has been updated to included these changes. You can view it on-line and save it to your computer if you wish.
2.12.28.123	Dashboard Bridge now accommodates the recent changes made by Farmers. ABS Backup program now accommodates very big backups resulting from large numbers of Document Manager images. Previously, backups failed when the archive approached 2GB. This new program has been tested with backups of over 2.6GB. Query: Auto BI 250+ /Fire liability 300K+ no Umbrella now only shows households that have an active auto AND an active Fire policy. The Invoice now has an automatically generated Invoice Number. The number can be changed on the Interactive Print Preview, which will then offer the option to begin the numbering system using the new number. Commercial -- certain coverage fields allowed short-cut data entry. The fields with this capability have a light blue background, such as $125,000. This feature was added with build 119 (the previous release). Unfortunately, some agents reported problems entering amounts smaller than 1,000. Fields where this might occur will require entering all digits.
2.12.27.119	Folio Reconciliation now computes Health policy premium Folio Reconciliation and Carrier Renewal by Date Range sorts correctly on Renewal Date. You will notices the date format is now displayed as YYYY - MM - DD. Commercial -- certain coverage fields allow short-cut data entry. Single digit numbers will result in millions, and 2, 3 or 4 digit numbers will be multiplied by 1000. For example, entering the number "1" (without quotes) will automatically yield $1,000,000. The number "2" will give $2,000,000. The number "125" will produce $125,000, and the number "50" gives $50,000. All fields with this capability have a light blue background, such as $125,000. Commercial Liability Certificate has been revised to allow more than one company to be listed on the form (similar to Acord). If there is a Worker's Comp policy, it can be accommodated in its own area of the form. The appearance of the entire program has a fresh look if Windows XP themes have been turned on. If you don't know what XP Themes are, read your Windows manual or check with your local technician. They are cosmetic, and don't affect the operation of ABS.
2.11.26.109	March 14, 2007. There isn't a new version number because the main program hasn't changed. The reason for this update is that we neglected to include the ABS System Admin program in the installation. If you downloaded an update prior to 5:30 PM Pacific Time on March 14, you may want to install this release.
2.11.26.109	A query enhancement to include email addressees was unintentionally omitted from the last update. It has been added with this update. The only query to include Email addresses is, "All accounts regardless of status." This query can be filtered and sorted to produce the desired output. A fix to the Dashboard Bridge was made necessary by a change Farmers made to the layout of the Household Summary Page. The symptom was that only the client name was captured, and the address, city, state, zip were all blank. This release now recognizes the new Household Summary page layout. The Dashboard Bridge now only updates driver's names if no driver already exists. If a driver has already been assigned, it will not be changed. This is because Farmers typically adds the middle initial to the end of the first name. This should eliminate problems where, for example; "John" is changed to "John Q" and then you must manually change it back (what a pain). If no name has been assigned to an auto policy, you'll get a name like "John Q" and need to reassign it to one of the family members using the name drop-down list. Exporting query results to ASCII, or .CSV files used to include redundant quotations in the field delimiters that sometimes caused problems with certain applications. Delimiters now conform to industry standards. This release fixes a bug that was introduced in the previous release of Document Manager. Apparently when a single page Tiff file was imported as a multi-page tiff, the image could appear to be imported correctly, but not be saved.
2.11.26.108	- This update is significant and has a few features that will require you to pay attention. First, make sure ABS is closed on all computers when you do this update. After the update, you will need to use ABS System Administration to assign permission to those users who should be able to print the Master Policy Summary, and the Household Summary. They have been given their own level of permission because there are those who should be able to print all the other reports, but not these. The Receipt Manager has a new Audit Report, and automatic transaction logging that prevents users from issuing a receipt and not entering that fact in the Account Activity Log. Please read about the other major enhancements listed below. NOTE: Offices with Linux servers may need the assistance of your local technician due to the added security that is sometimes imposed by the Linux operating system. Document Manager: (bug fix) PDF images were sometimes lost after editing any of the text fields. That problem has been fixed. Combining images into Multi-Page Tiff files now works as designed Receipt Manager: (Enhancement) 1. “Policy” button is disabled when viewing previously completed receipts. This eliminates the ability to alter receipts after they have been printed. 2. All transactions are automatically logged in the Account Activity Log so the user can’t cancel, edit or delete the log entry. This creates a permanent record of all transactions. In the past, logging a transaction in the Activity Log was optional. Now it is mandatory, and the user has no control over the content of the log entry, which includes the amount received, Method of payment (including check or card number), Receipt Number, Payment Date, and who received the payment. All Voids are logged in the same fashion. 3. All receipts written after this update has been installed will permanently record the User ID of the employee who was logged into ABS when the money was received (Received By). 4. A new Receipt History report contains a line item for each receipt, as well as each receipt that was voided. Each receipt listed will show the “received by” User ID. This serves as a simple audit report that can help pinpoint signs of inappropriate money handling. System Admin: (Enhancement) The screen layout has been simplified, and a check box has been added to grant or revoke permission for printing Master policy or customer reports. After this update, no users will be able to print these reports until the System Administrator grants permission. All other permissions will remain as they were at the time this update was installed. The only thing that needs to be done is to grant permission for those users who are to be allowed to print those reports. The Manual has been updated to include instructions for the new System Admin changes, including new screen images. Dashboard Bridge: (Internal Design Change) Previous assumptions about policy status sometimes produced incorrect results. Active policies were sometimes not made Inactive, and Inactive Auto Policies were sometimes made Active. Now, the policy status shown on the Household Summary is always used, however policies shown on the “Cancelled 60+ days” tab are not used to update the database. This “stale” information must be entered manually, if required. Member Information (Enhancement) An “email address” field has been added so clients can be emailed by double clicking the email address. A “deceased” check box has been added, and queries have been modified to eliminate deceased people from birthday lists, etc. Some queries optionally permit including deceased members in the list by clicking an “include” checkbox. Note: that the default location of the new Deceased checkbox is at the far right of the family member tab (scroll right). Drag it to a different position if you prefer. Queries: (Enhancement) Policy Type added to all Active Fire Policies. Column for CSR added to Umbrella policy list. New query permits filtering policy type. New query for Account Lapse Date. Policy Cancel Date added to each Policy List. Database: (Enhancement) Internal structure changes that should result in slight size reduction. The decrease in size will depend on the amount of data in the database. Other Bug Fixes: Pending tasks tab of main screen no longer produces an “invalid variant type” error. Commercial property cert automatically inserts the deductible amount. Previously it had to be entered by the user. The automatic ABS License Fee invoice now shows the correct Dashboard Bridge renewal fee of $125 instead of $250, which was the sum of the License Fee and the Initial Setup Fee.
2.10.24.101	We gave up on a web based registration system. Certain offices had too many problems that we were unable to reproduce, and we were unable to guess at their cause. Version 2.10 takes us back to the manual registration system that has worked well for many years. If you have installed 2.9 you will need to re-enter your registration code. This is true even if 2.9 has been working without problems. If you don't have ready access to your old Registration Code, don't waist time hunting for it. Just call and we will fax another ASAP. Based on the number of successful upgrades, we are we are disappointed that we are unable to bring more automation to the registration process. We simply have no control over the quality of web connections that, in some cases prevented automatic registration, which caused problems ranging from nuisance error messages to a complete inability to open ABS. To those of you who had problems, we sincerely apologize. To those of you who didn't have problems, we also apologize for having to withdraw this potentially beneficial feature.
2.9.24.95 and prior	Web registration will only be performed once on any given day and then only by the first workstation to open ABS. The actual web connection is performed external to the main program, to hasten the opening of ABS Agency Builder. - Off Site Backup users should download the latest Off Site Backup to receive a very minor enhancement. - This should eliminate the message "* FTP Procedure Failed". The program should also open quicker. - Off Site Backup users should download the latest Off Site Backup. It is now compatible with Ver. 2.9. - This first release is an Open Beta. That means we have tested the program in several agencies, and believe it is ready to release. The likelihood of encountering problems is very low, but since the number of beta tester is necessarily small, there is always the chance you may encounter something abnormal. If you find any odd behavior, it will certainly be minor. Even so, we want to hear about anything you think isn't right. - This release includes an incredible appointment calendar at no cost. - The F4 search can now search for DBA names on Work Comp Screens. - Important: Beginning with version 2.9, you will no longer need to enter registration codes. The program will automatically get registration information from the Internet. This means that at least one computer in your office must have a connection to the web (DSL or Cable preferred ). The automation of program registration will be much faster, and far more convenient for you. It will eliminate lost faxed registration codes, and will greatly reduce the time delay between payment of your license fee, and re-registration. - An F4 search should no longer need refreshing to show new accounts added by another user on the network. Don't know how this became disabled, but it now works again. - This fixes a problem that caused the auto policy premium to be artificially inflated after updating from the Dashboard Bridge. This only occurred when there were multiple vehicles in the household. - Additional Auto coverage details added to the Account Review report. - Dashboard Bridge more readily captures Household ID - Data recovery in the event of corruption or data loss has been automated. - Dashboard Bridge now gives more progress feedback as it captures information. - Dashboard Bridge is even more discriminating when capturing Auto Policy Status. - SSN and DL are now displayed correctly on the Apps Worksheet - Auto Policy Status has been updated for Dashboard Bridge - We believe the error message for pending when the view was set to today only has been fixed. Please respond if you should encounter further problems. - More information added to the Account Review, including SSN & DL. The word "Confidential" is printed in bold letters. - Dashboard Bridge now captures multiple fire policies properly. - Dashboard Bridge now refreshes Policy Counts by Status after updating. - Fixed index problem when downloading Auto-Only households. - Account Review report now includes many more policy details. - Dashboard now captures basic Foremost Mobile Home information. - Dashboard now captures more Fire policy details (i.e. Loss of use, Separate Structures, etc.) - A tool was added that removes Orphan Pending Tasks - Fixed encryption problem when tabbing back into the SSN field after a second time. - Many other changes from 2.7 - There is no change to the main program. This is only a minor fix to ABS Document Manager. It is now possible to edit the document captions which was not possible with build 932. - Document Manager is now able to scroll from one image to another via the arrow keys on the keyboard. - Document Manager has a new print option that permits the use of the default Windows image viewer. This was done in response to reports of images printing as a solid black page. Since the default Windows image viewer may be different from one computer to another (sometimes depending on hardware, sometimes software, and sometimes the brand of scanner or camera) we will not offer tech support for the default viewer. This print option will be found listed in the print menu along with all other standard print options. - It is now possible to display Policies Renewed or Cancelled for a Date Range. Previously, some systems produced an error. - The Predefined Query; "Surplus Renewals" now filters properly on account status and policy status. Previously it did not filter correctly on policy status. - When there are several identical DBA names (i.e. Panda Express), the F4 search will now produce a list of their addresses so you can select the correct account. In the past, an F4 search for DBA name would stop on the first occurrence, and not display any subsequent names. § - This is a fix for a problem that occurred with build 928 when running Windows at very high resolutions (i.e. 1280 X 1024). You will find something new on the Account, Boat, Commercial, Fire, Flood, and Health screens. It is a horizontal raised line called a "Splitter" located just above the tabs at the bottom of those screen. The splitter can be used to drag the tabs up or down so you can position them to take advantage of any unused space. You can even "pull" them up over the top of other items to see more of what the tabs contain, then put them back. The program will remember where you last left them, and put them back when you next return to that screen. - This is a side note about the new Repair & Compact utility that was released with build 924. So far, it has been 100% successful in repairing cases of corruption that previously required restoring from a backup. There haven't been very many such cases, so this is not to imply that permanent data corruption will be eliminated, however we are very encouraged by this new procedure's performance to date. - These screens have been enhanced with a splitter that allows the user to make adjustments for various Windows resolution (including wide screen monitors): Account Screen, Boat, Commercial, Fire, Flood, and Health. - If your workstation is connected to the Internet, the program will tell you if there is a newer version to download. It only checks once a month to avoid being a nag. You can check more often by clicking Help \| Current Web Download Version. - Document Manager is now able to scroll from one image to another via the arrow keys on the keyboard. - Document Manager has a new print option that permits the use of the default Windows image viewer. This was done in response to reports of images printing as a solid black page. Since the default Windows image viewer may be different from one computer to another (sometimes depending on hardware, sometimes software, and sometimes the brand of scanner or camera) we will not offer tech support for the default viewer. This print option will be found listed in the print menu along with all other standard print options. - It is now possible to display Policies Renewed or Cancelled for a Date Range. Previously, some systems produced an error. - The Predefined Query; "Surplus Renewals" now filters properly on account status and policy status. Previously it did not filter correctly on policy status. - When there are several identical DBA names (i.e. Panda Express), the F4 search will now produce a list of their addresses so you can select the correct account. In the past, an F4 search for DBA name would stop on the first occurrence, and not display any subsequent names. § - This is a fix for a problem that occurred with build 928 when running Windows at very high resolutions (i.e. 1280 X 1024). You will find something new on the Account, Boat, Commercial, Fire, Flood, and Health screens. It is a horizontal raised line called a "Splitter" located just above the tabs at the bottom of those screen. The splitter can be used to drag the tabs up or down so you can position them to take advantage of any unused space. You can even "pull" them up over the top of other items to see more of what the tabs contain, then put them back. The program will remember where you last left them, and put them back when you next return to that screen. - This is a side note about the new Repair & Compact utility that was released with build 924. So far, it has been 100% successful in repairing cases of corruption that previously required restoring from a backup. There haven't been very many such cases, so this is not to imply that permanent data corruption will be eliminated, however we are very encouraged by this new procedure's performance to date. - These screens have been enhanced with a splitter that allows the user to make adjustments for various Windows resolution (including wide screen monitors): Account Screen, Boat, Commercial, Fire, Flood, and Health. - If your workstation is connected to the Internet, the program will tell you if there is a newer version to download. It only checks once a month to avoid being a nag. You can check more often by clicking Help \| Current Web Download Version. - Document Manager included in build 924 was not the latest release (we goofed). This build has the latest release. - Commercial Auto - Vehicle list now prints as designed. - It is now possible to disable the Automatic Account Status Update. If you wish to enable or disable this feature, click Tools \| Preferences. Then select the Account Status tab. Information about how that feature works and how to enable/disable it is located on that tab. - Account Status is automatically adjusted based on the status of the policies in the account. You can determine how ABS handles accounts that have no policies. They can be either Prospect accounts, or Inactive accounts. To set this default, click Tools \| Preferences, then select the Miscellaneous tab. - To have ABS check for a more recent release, click Help \| Current Web Download. You will be told the version you are running and the version that can be downloaded. If the computer does not have access to the internet, you will only be told the version you are running. - The Texas Liability Card now works properly for Commercial Vehicles. Previous releases sometimes omitted vehicle information when printed for multiple vehicles. - Integration with ITC Turborater is included with this release. This is the first beta release. For more information about ITC Turborater go to www.turborater.com - The last release covered the taskbar if it was set to "AutoHide". This release fixes that. - Corrects a minor login problem that could result in read only access if the password was entered with incorrect capitalization. - This release fixes inappropriate error messages when closing the program. - The field size for Health policy notes has been increased from 64 characters to 255. - Build 903 improved, but did not eliminate the error messages when closing the program. Again, we are unable to duplicate the problem so we are only pretty sure this will fix the problem. So far this problem has only been reported by two offices. - Some agencies reported error messages when closing the program. We couldn't duplicate the problem but believe this will fix it. - Right clicking the policy summary produces a pop-up menu with several choices such as; visit carrier's web page, copy policy number, and more. - All Fire queries now have a "renter" field showing the state of the "Insured is Tenant" check box. This helps filter for renters, or homeowners. - Commercial vehicle list was blank if any one vehicle premium was missing. That has been fixed with this update. - Card File: Column re-arrangement is remembered, and restored the next time you open the card file. - Health and term life policy renewal dates are now automatically updated like the other policy types (better folio query accuracy). - Folio Reconciliation Query results can now be exported directly to Microsoft Excel (.SLK), Coma Separated Value (.CSV), or ASCII text files (.TXT). - Folio Reconciliation Query now lists Broker Names as well as Carrier Names. - Predefined Query results can now be exported directly to Microsoft Excel (.SLK), Coma Separated Value (.CSV), or ASCII text files (.TXT). - Policy Summary Grid is now much more readable. Highlighted fields no longer mask the text. - Account Status is set by the status of policies within the account. This is done after editing any policy, and during the database maintenance done when ABS is first opened each day. A percentage bar at the bottom of the screen informs you of the process. - Integration with ISS has been removed. A survey of potential ISS users indicated that no ABS user is still using ISS. This survey was conducted by email to 200 agencies. Of those 200 emails, 29 were returned because our email addresses have not been updated. If you have recently changed your email address, please send us an address correction. Carrier Codes entered under Edit \| Carriers will now print on the Auto Certificate (EOI) as NAIC code except in Arizona where it will print as ADOT code. If no carrier code has been entered, the field will be left blank, and there will be no reference to NAIC. Carrier and Policy Description drop down lists have been revised to avoid problems when network traffic is high. Policy Description drop down list no longer hangs if double-clicked (it was designed to be clicked not double-clicked). The Folio Reconciliation report now includes the report month as well as the print date.. F4 search has been enhanced to handle apostrophes more efficiently (names like O'Neil). Flood renewal dates are automatically updated like other policies. Scroll bars have been added to Health screen remarks fields. Reports / Master Policy List is much more efficient. It only lists the account where policies exist instead of every account. In our test database, listing Accounts with Inactive policies went from 36 pages to 7 pages. The printed report for the Fire Renewal query was missing renewal dates. This update fixes that problem. A new flood query displays households with a flood policy that doesn't have contents coverage. Today we uploaded a tool that may help restore damaged databases for offices that fail to backup regularly. This is not intended as a replacement for sound backup practices. New query displays policy counts by carrier. Should be handy if you need to rewrite policies to a different carrier. All Policy Renewal queries now display Carrier Name. Handy if you need to rewrite to a different carrier. We added invalid birthdays to Tools - Cleanup Data menu. Previously it only showed missing DOBs. Now it's easy to correct invalid dates (i.e. 2035 vs 1935) . New Flood Marketing Query {Fire but no Flood). Farmers agents can now import Field Data Quotes for Auto, Motorcycle, Homeowner, Dwelling, Landlord, and Life. Note that Field Data always computes premium and does not store it with their saved quote information. Therefore, premium will not be imported, however coverage and other policy details will.. Auto binders, Certs, and EOIs now show the full vehicle make name (i.e. Chevrolet instead of CHEV). Added Policy Status to Policy Renewal queries. Fixed a problem that occurred while trying to log an activity from the Pending Task Screen. Carrier list is back to being alphabetic. Policy Summary listed an Earthquake policy for every fire policy. Now it only lists them if there is an earthquake policy number. Policy Summary computes total premium, and annual premium even if there are missing premiums. If premiums are missing, the totals will be highlighted red. Previously the word Invalid was displayed. Rate Class and Car Symbol is now included on the Auto coverage report printed from the Auto Detail screen. Policy Summary now reflects the correct policies regardless of the F4 search method used. Activity Log entry dialog can now create a "follow-up" pending task by checking a "Follow-up" box. Default Sort order of the Policy Summary has been reset to the following order of precedence: Status, Policy Type, Carrier, Policy Number. This will put all active policies at the top of the grid. Within the active policies, records will be sorted by Policy Type. Within Type, records will be sorted by Carrier, and with Carrier they will be sorted by Policy Number. It would be good if you arranged the columns of your Policy Summary in the same order of precedence (Status, Type, Carrier, Policy). This release changes the text color for active policies to a darker blue than before. The shade of blue makes text slightly darker than the default background color for highlighted cells. This makes the text more visible under nearly all circumstances. Invoices, Receipts, and Letters requiring policy selection now work normally. Double clicking Carrier Name in the Policy Summary now opens the carrier's web site (if it was entered in the carrier list). Fixed a bug in the Birthday query that was reported immediately after uploading build 851. Internal changes make the entire program more suitable for use with Terminal Services, or Citrix Servers. F-4 searches are more than twice as fast as previous releases. Some tests showed a ten-fold improvement. Business Graphs (View menu) are produced at least twice as fast as previous releases. Production Reports are produced at least twice as fast as previous releases. Policy Summary includes annualized premium, special color coding, better handling of empty fields, and a pop-up menu when right clicked. Policy Summary now indicates when total premium is invalid because of missing premium amounts. Policy Summary is now "Read Only" to prevent novice user from attempting to edit policy information on the grid (yes it does happen). Pop-up menu on Policy Summary permits copying policy number to Windows clipboard, display of Annualized premium for Prospect policies. New temporary policy numbers begin with the letters TEMP. Pop-up menu on Members grid permits copying each field to the Windows clipboard. Dashes are removed when copying the SSN. Exit message gives backup-instructions, but no longer launches backup program to encourage restarting Windows prior to backing up. Bug fixed that prevented entry of Work Comp Job Classifications. Similar bug fixed that sometimes hindered entry of Commercial Locations. This build was used for testing and was never distributed. Enhanced birthday query to allow age range and account status selection. Fixed problem where data or network problems fooled ABS into thinking an update was required. Fixed problem where graphs would not print on some Windows XP computers (50 meg download only). Fixed problem where the Auto Liability Certificate would sometimes refuse to print. Improved internal links between commercial policies and autos, locations, condo owners. Increased commercial policy number field from 12 characters to 25. Added Broker field to all policy screens. Allows tracking brokerage for brokered policies. Reports using this info will be in a future release. Web Browser button opens your carrier's web site You must enter the URL in the Carrier List. New procedure for updating database fields allows easy upgrading from all prior releases of version 2.1 through 2.6. Fixed problem with ABS Word Processor that caused error messages upon closing. Simplified File\|Save* and File\|Open menus of Word Processor. Fixed errors that prevented use of the fire screen. This problem only occurred on certain systems after upgrading from the 2.5 data format. Removed the "Policy Name" reminder when entering the Life screen. Fixed: Work Comp policy numbers longer than 12 characters prevented Job Classes from being saved correctly. Fixed: Changing Work Comp and Commercial policy numbers no longer causes a loss of detail information. Folio Reconciliation now includes 6 month auto policies even if only one of the two annual renewals falls into the selected month. For example, an auto policy that renews in November and May will be reconciled in both months. Depending on when the policy was written, one may be new business and the other renewal, or both may be renewal. Minor change to enhance the speed of the F4 search. New query shows active households that do not have health policies. Language Preference added to most customer relations queries. Many enhancements to other existing queries and their reports. Monthly Folio Reconciliation Query gives total premium, and total commission. Auto Summary report now shows only one agency address line if mailing and street address are identical. Corrected a false error message when attempting to access Surplus Line Policies. Changes to accommodate an office that prematurely downloaded 2.6 and damaged their 2.5 data. Was uploaded again on 9/2/03 because the one on 8/28 appeared to be corrupt and would not install, or installed incorrectly. Was uploaded again on 9/3/03 to include new changes to the program launcher. The main program remains the same. Fixed a problem that prevented account information from being passed to Forms Boss on newly created accounts and policies. Added editable binder to Surplus Screen It is now possible to delete all pending tasks that have been completed. All grids on the Commercial Screen can be sorted by clicking the column header. Bug fixed that prevented Folio Reconciliation under certain conditions. Adding a new lender on the policy screens immediately assigns that lender to the policy. Document Manager image changes are now automatically saved. Document Manager images default to screen width instead of "best fit". Fixed bug that prevented mail merge if the selected household had no members Includes the word processor that was originally distributed with 2.3 and 2.5. This should fix all 2.6 word processor issues. CSR added to nearly all queries. Another word processor revision. ABS Word Processor revised to permit activity log entries in the main ABS Agency Builder program. Monthly Folio report (under Queries) now computes commission in addition to showing policy premium. Revised manual pages will available for on-line viewing and printing in a few days. Commercial Policy Form drop-down is now editable. You can customize this for policies you sell. Two Auto Predefined Queries had trouble filtering on certain coverage fields. Fixed. Problems quoting Fire policies with ISS have been fixed. It is now possible to move members, and split households without error messages. Minor bug in program launcher fixed. Moving policies to another account no longer produces an error message. Commercial Property Claim Form Workers Comp Certificate Carrier code added to Arizona Auto Certificate. New Vehicles may now be rated with ISS. Bug fix allows word processor to properly log activities. Floaters display properly on Fire screen. New feature added that provides news about ABS® software. This features automatically checks the internet a few seconds after the program starts, and displays the latest news. This feature may be turned off by clicking Tools \| Preferences then selecting the Misc. Settings tab. Browse list (Shift - F4) now includes Entity Name, and can be sorted by clicking any of the column headers. Lienholder button on the auto screen now defaults to the existing lender when one exists. Correct data files installed for new installation of Receipt Manager. Document Manager images can now be linked to Auto policies. Integration with WinFSC rater now works our new Auto data format. Two queries generated error messages - both fixed. Fixed bug transferring certain Auto Data to ISS. Fixed problem entering fire screen (FU3 error). Fixed integration problem with ISS auto rating. Added How To info to Main Account screen. Entity Name on all letters, mail merge, and Mailing labels. Printable Commercial Auto List Fixed a problem printing Commercial Liability Certificates after previous update. Commercial Auto redesigned so limits are now assigned to vehicles. Better record keeping and accurate binders. Commercial Auto Certificate now prints properly. Commercial Screen now has Scheduled Equipment list. New query shows policy activity (renewals/cancellations) for a date range. Texas Liability Cards can now be printed for one two or three vehicles. Auto Claim forms are back in operation. We are still fighting a problem with Commercial Auto Certificates. A work around is to use the printer dialog box to limit printing to one page (2 in California). If you don't, you may try to print thousands of copies of the same page. Double clicking Auto effective time inserts current time. Entity and DBA Names included on invoice for Commercial accounts. Fixed problem that prevented launching of ISS rating. Double clicking the Carrier field of the Policy Summary will connect to that carrier's web page. To use this feature, you must add the carrier's web address to the carrier list (click Edit \| Carriers...). Over 100 unused database fields have been removed. This reduces the size of the database file, and cuts down on network traffic. Simple Invoices can be created from the File \| Print menu (Account Screen). Fixed bug that prevented ISS rating from updating ABS with new quote info. Intra-Office messaging now pops up within 60 seconds of being sent. ISS Rating integration now rates all cars on policy and all auto policies. Fixed a few bugs in predefined queries. Enhanced Folio Report Filtering to allow more filter selections. Updated auto premiums not updated with initial release. Revised Account Review query to select by Month instead of date range. Account review field is red when review date is past due. You can now set, and easily apply Default Coverage Limits - big time saver. Autos now have Status and dates in addition to Policy Status and dates. Tabs now synchronize properly with autos. Policy Summary on Account Screen shows autos based on auto status. Printed Auto Policy Summary added for Prospect Vehicles. Auto grid replaced by a tabbed screen matching the previous layout.. Texas Liability Card will now print one car policies properly. Texas Liability Card now shows up to 4 drivers plus address. Intra office mail now works properly. Harmless Error Message at startup fixed. Forms Boss re-enabled. Receipt Manager Included in the install.