Multi-factor authentication

Districts now have the option of using multi-factor authentication to add a layer of security to Aspen. The first time users log in, they have a choice: verify using an authenticator app on their mobile device, or receive a code via email.

When logging in for the first time, users see this pop-up.

Users can either scan the QR code using an authentication application, or click the Email tab to have a confirmation code sent to their inbox.

See Use multi-factor authentication for more information.

Select preferred language at login

Users can now set their preferred language on the Login pop-up.

The selection takes place immediately, and is reflected on all Aspen Portal view pages.

See Setting Your Preferred Language for more information.

Log in with another provider

Aspen's new login pop-up supports AASP/SSO logins using another provider, such as Google or Microsoft.

If a district enables this feature, users see an option to click 'Log in with Another Provider'.

Next, the user selects the provider they want to use.

The user then logs in using the appropriate username and password for that provider.

See Logging on to Aspen for more information.

Password reset

Users can now reset their expired passwords, and retrieve their existing passwords, from the login pop-up. First, click 'Trouble logging in'.

In the pop-up that appears, click 'Reset your password'. The following pop-up appears.

Users enter their Login ID, and click Recover Password. They then follow the instructions received via email.

See Reset your password for more information.

Announcing Aspen's New Portal for students

If your district uses Aspen's New Portal (mobile), there is a now a New Portal view just for students. Students can keep tabs on their assignments, schedule, grades, announcements, and more. When students log on to the New Portal, their schedule appears. It defaults to today, but students can swipe right for tomorrow's schedule or swipe left for yesterday's:

For more information, see Aspen's New Portal.

Class attendance appears in the New Portal

The Attendance screen now has two sub-tabs: Daily and Class. From the Daily sub-tab, parents and students can view attendance for the Current Week, Current Grade Term, and Previous Grade Term. From the Class sub-tab, they can view attendance for the Current Week, Current Grade Term, Previous Grade Term, and This Year.

New Notifications icon in the New Portal

Parents and students can tap the Notifications icon on the header of any screen to quickly view messages from their district, school, and teachers.

Enhancements to Returning Student Registration

If your district uses Aspen's New Student (Online) Registration/Returning Student Registration feature, you will notice some changes when you complete a Returning Student Registration form for your student:

• On the Family/Contacts tab, you can add information (such as phone number, email address, contact notes, and more) for the people you designate as contacts for your student. You can also edit this information for student contacts previously entered into Aspen. If completing the form in the New Portal, you can tap Remove to delete a contact; if done accidentally, tap Restore (the button toggles).

• After you submit a Returning Student Registration form in the New Portal, Aspen can send an email confirming your form was received and will be reviewed.

Enhancements to queries

Administrators now have more flexibility working with queries created for third-party applications to access Aspen data.

Two new options, Modify Query and Copy Query, appear on the Options menu from the query's Details page (District [Root Organization] view, Tools > Queries > select a query > Details > Options).

To modify a query, the administrator edits the fields on the pop-up as needed, and then clicks Save.

In addition, system administrators can now update a query. A new field, 'Update existing', appears on the Import pop-up. Enable it, and click Import. Aspen will search for a query with a matching file name to update.

(District [Root Organization] view, Tools > Queries > Options > Import)

See Create a query for third-party applications and Export and import queries for more information.

New functionality for export format results

The export format Results page can now allow (with configuration) users to view errors and edit/save data to the original table. For example, if a student is missing a value in an Ontario School Information System (OnSIS) field, such as Country of Origin, the user can view the error, click it, and be brought to the template where that data resides. The user can then edit the field directly on the template.
Users click the link (shown below) to view the source data and make corrections (District [Root Organization] view, Tools > Results > Result Rows).

Organization relationship for OAuth records updated

When a user is created at any organization level, they are always assigned an OrgOID1. If the site is multiOrg, the user is also assigned an additional OrgOIDx for each level they are a part of. For example, in Canada, if a user is created in a district, the user gets the OrgOID1 and OrgOID2 assigned automatically. If that user is applied to an OAuth record as a user, then the API should look to the lowest Org level record for that user and filter on that.

If a user is created at level 4, then they would automatically be assigned OrgOID1, OrgOID2, OrgOID3, and OrgOID4. If that user were to be applied to an OAuth record, then the API now filters on Org level 4 for the Orgs assigned to that user.

Calculated field error message

The validation logic for calculated expressions is updated. Aspen now displays an error message (when the user clicks Save) if there is an error in the 'Calculated expression' field (for example, "The user typed [ instead of {.").

(District [Root Organization] view, Admin > Data Dictionary > Calculated Fields > select a field > Details)

Ability for Intermediate organizations to edit localized reference codes

Before, when a reference code's Code or Description was localized, Aspen made the fields read-only. This could be a problem for customers with multiple organization levels; customers at the intermediate and lower organizations could not edit the fields created at the root organization level.
Now, the Code and Description fields are editable if the locale at the lower organization is set to the root organization's default locale. Then, users can edit existing codes and translate them the standard way in Aspen.

Data audit improvements

When an administrator runs an audit to track information updates, Aspen now displays all records from the Data Audit and Data Audit Archive system tables. This affects the following areas:

• District [Root Organization] and School views, Global > All > select a table > Audit Records > select All Records filter

• District [Root Organization] view, Admin > Users > select a user > Audit > select a table > select All Records filter

• District [Root Organization] view, navigate to a list page > select a record > Details > Options > Change History > select All Records

In addition, asterisks (****) now appear instead of passwords in these locations:

• District (Root Organization) view, Global > All > select a table > Audit Records

• District (Root Organization) view, Admin > Users > select a user > Details > Options > Change History

• District (Root Organization) view, Admin > Users > select a user > Audit

Query for Student Search widget updated

The search query in the Student Search widget has been updated. Student searches for semiprivate and private students, across schools, return faster, more accurate results. (District [Root Organization] and School views, Pages)

API enhancements

Specific enhancements were made to the Aspen API implementation in Aspen 6.8, including the following:

• Implemented a new endpoint, /oneroster/v1p1/students/{id}/classes, which allows Aspen to send a student's object identifier (OID) and retrieve a list of their current classes.

• Completed SendGrid API integration. Twilio SendGrid is a customer communication platform for sending email.

• Added two new options, 'OneRoster API access' and 'Query Builder API access', to the Security Roles Details page.

• 'Source field' now has a value of 'staffType' for the api.oneroster.teacher export format (District [Root Organization] view, Tools > Exports > Export Formats > select api.oneroster.teacher > Fields > select 1 - role). This way, users with the roles of Aide, Administrator, and Proctor are assigned their corresponding OneRoster enumeration codes in the reply by endpoint /oneroster/v1p1/teachers. Before, users with those roles were assigned Teacher in the reply (the 'Default value' field was set to Teacher and has been removed).

Prevent workflows from appearing in Tasks widget

A new field, 'Hide from Tasks Widget Initiation', appears on the Workflows Details page. Select this checkbox to prevent users from initiating the workflow from the Tasks widget on the homepage. (District [Root Organization] view, Admin > Workflows > Workflow Definitions > select a workflow > Details)

See Define workflow details for information.

Unicode data type columns for Gradebook Average system table

The Gradebook Average system table (GRADEBOOK_AVERAGE) contained OIDs that were not Unicode data types. The data type has been changed for these Gradebook Average columns.

Class Attendance Other Code issue resolved

For schools that use second daily attendance, daily attendance has two Other Codes, one for AM and another for PM. If Other Code 2 was used for AM class attendance and pushed to daily, daily attendance was not created. If Other Code 1 was used for PM class attendance and pushed to daily, daily attendance was not created. This issue is resolved by allowing teachers to use PAT_OTHER_CODE or PAT_OTHER_CODE_2 for PM attendance.

Although Aspen only provides one Other Code for AM attendance and one Other Code for PM attendance, it will not require teachers to enter the PM attendance code in the Other Code 2 field on the class attendance record.

SYS-FUT-ADD-DROP procedure renamed

For better clarity, the procedure SYS-FUT-ADD-DROP is now called Process Future Schedule Changes. Its previous name was Process Future Enrollment Records. This procedure reviews and updates student schedule change records. (District [Root Organization] view, Tools > Procedures). A new Schedule preference in the School view, Procedure Run Time, indicates when Aspen should run this procedure.

Added login security

Features were added for Aspen to shut off access to user accounts after a number of unsuccessful login attempts.

• To flag invalid login attempts, a new system preference sys.security.access.violation.allow was added to the System Preference Key Definition table. It has a default value of 0 (meaning the access violation check is off). When set to 1 or more, it defines how many times a user is allowed a login attempt before the account is disabled.

• The User system table now has an ‘Access violation’ column (USR_ACCESS_VIOLATION_COUNT).

• The Login Status drop-down on the Users Details page has a new option: 'Disabled access violation' (District [Root Organization] view, Admin > Users > select a user > Details). Before allowing a user to log in, Aspen checks if the status is set to 'Disabled access violation'. If so, Aspen displays an “Account is disabled” message to the user who attempts to log in.

'Default Login to Mobile' security preference

The 'Default Login to Mobile' checkbox was changed to a drop-down with three options:

• Blank: The preference is off.

• Classic: The preference is on and takes the user to the old mobile experience.

• New Mobile: The preference is on and takes the user to the New Portal.

This preference specifies whether users on an Aspen desktop device are directed to the New Portal or Classic mobile.

To find this preference, go to the details of any Aspen security role (District [Root Organization] view, Admin > Security > Roles > select a role > Details). If desired, districts can have users log on to Classic mobile first.

Note that this preference only applies to those views that have New Portal access. Other views still will default to the Classic mobile experience.

Link added from Aspen desktop to the New Portal

A link from Aspen desktop to the Family view in the New Portal has been added (District [Root Organization] view, Admin > Security > Roles). A new preference is Access New Mobile from Family Portal full site.

When enabled, the Mobile View tab appears in the Family portal:

The user clicks Mobile View to access the New Portal.

'Validation Expressions' field added to validate and format values in the New Portal

A new column/field (FDX_VALIDATE_EXP_IDS) was added to the Extended Field system table (FDX). This field defines the regular expression (regex) library Aspen uses to validate and format phone numbers that users enter on forms in the New Portal.

Enhancements to Aspen's New Portal for mobile devices

Aspen 6.8 includes major developments to its New Portal (mobile). These include the following:

• A student portal displays students' schedules (for today, tomorrow, yesterday), as well as their assignments, attendance (daily/class), class information, published reports (such as report cards), notifications, and more.

• Class attendance data now appears, in addition to daily attendance data.

• A Notifications icon in the header of every screen alerts parents and students of messages from their district, school, and teachers.

• Images added to the Announcements widget in Aspen desktop appear on mobile devices in the New Portal via the notifications feature (revitalized for 6.8 and pending mobile app):

  

• Forms now have Owner Table and Storage Table flexibility. This allows a greater variety of workflows, created in Aspen desktop, to be used in the New Portal. (Workflows move forms through a process; such as from submission to completion.) In prior releases, forms could only be associated with the Student Case storage table. Now other storage tables, such Generic Form Data, can be selected. (District [Root Organization] view, Admin > Forms > select a form > Details > Owner Table > Name and Storage Table > Name fields)

• Users can add basic HTML styles, such as bold, italics, and underline, to text and message resources that are on a template.

• On the login screen, users now click a link to review the privacy policy. Before, a text box appeared.

Updates to Returning Student Registration

Districts that use Aspen's Returning Student Registration feature will notice the following enhancements:

• Additional functionality helps staff during the Review phase. When adding a parent, guardian, or other contact, the pop-up displays two sub-tabs: Demographics and Contact Match. On the Contact Match sub-tab, Aspen pre-populates the fields when a contact match is found. The reviewer can confirm the contact already exists in Aspen, preventing duplicate contact records.

• When a reviewer clicks Accept on a Returning Student Registration form, the Checklist page now displays the following information for each student contact (under the Contacts header):

  • First Name

  • Last Name

  • Contact Order/Priority #

  • Relationship

  • Portal Access

  • Phone 1

  • Phone 2

  • Email

  • Contact Notes

• If the reviewer entered a new contact on the Family/Contacts tab during the Review phase, Aspen creates a student contact record on the Student Case Person table, which can be viewed from Student > Contacts once the registration is accepted.

• When a reviewer adds or edits Address line 3 (city, state, zip) for a student or contact, the information is parsed into City, State, and Postal Code fields. (District [Root Organization] view, District [Root Organization] > Contacts)

• A new preference, Copy documents to student on Acceptance, is for districts (root organizations) that let parents upload documents during the returning student registration process (District [Root Organization] view, District [Root Organization] > Returning Student Registrations > Preferences > Copy Documents to Student Y > Details). If enabled, uploaded documents appear in the District (Root Organization) or School views, Student > Documents. If disabled, uploaded documents will still be attached to the student's Returning Student Registration record and workflow, but will not be accessible from Student > Documents.

• When a parent/guardian completes a Returning Student Registration form in Aspen desktop or the New Portal, they can navigate to the Family/Contacts tab and add a student contact and applicable information (such as their address, email address, phone number, contact notes, and more). In addition, the parent/guardian can edit this information for their student's existing contacts.

• When a parent/guardian submits a Returning Student Registration form in the New Portal, Aspen can send an email confirming the form was received and will be reviewed. Resource keys were added and can be localized:

  • olrrForm.email.submitConfirmation.parent.subject

      

  • olrrForm.email.submitConfirmation.parent.message

• When a user adds a new contact to a Returning Student Registration form (in desktop), Aspen now automatically populates the Student Case Person table (SCP_PSN_OID) once the registrar accepts the form. Before, Aspen only populated the table when the contact was matched manually on the Contact Match sub-tab.

New Student [Online] Registration/Returning Student Registration is an add-on feature. Contact your Sales representative for information.

Enhancements for districts that use New Student (Online) Registration and Returning Student Registration in Aspen's New Portal (mobile)

• A new filter, Aspen Go, appears on the Filter menu in the District (Root Organization) view, Tools > Templates. Select it to display forms associated with New Student (Online) Registration and Returning Student Registration in the New Portal.

• The Student Case ID Number Generation Next value preference automatically increases each time a parent initiates a new student registration in the New Portal. (The 'Auto assign' field must be enabled for incrementation to occur.) (District [Root Organization] view, District [Root Organization] > Setup > Preferences > select Membership category > click Advanced sub-tab).

• Administrators can view parents' electronic signatures on new student registrations submitted in the New Portal.

• When a user adds a new contact to a New Student (Online) Registration form (in the New Portal or desktop), Aspen now automatically populates the Student Case Person table (SCP_PSN_OID) once the registrar accepts the form. Before, Aspen only populated the table when the contact was matched manually on the Contact Match sub-tab.

• Code was updated to support the pre-population of the following fields for Returning Student Registration forms in the New Portal. In order for the code to map to the correct user-defined field, you must add an alias to the Data Dictionary for that user-defined field, as indicated below: 

  Extended DataDictionary	Alias Data Dictionary	Alias Data Dictionary Table
  olrr-scp-access	all-ctj-PickupAccess	Student Contact
  olrr-scp-receive-text-comm	all-ctj-ReceivesTextComm	Student Contact
  olrr-stc-legal-note	all-std-legalNote	Student
  olrr-stc-parent-court-order	all-std-parentCourtOrder	Student
  olrr-stc-order-of-protection	all-std-orderOfProtection	Student

Updates to Continuing Education feature

Aspen's Continuing Education feature lets community members sign up for educational classes and activities offered by their district using the New Portal (mobile). Recent enhancements to this feature include the following:

• The Continuing Education Waitlist Update procedure, SYS-CON-ED-WAITLIST-UPDATE, has been enhanced. This procedure enrolls wait-listed students to course sections, on a first come/first served basis, and updates the rank of the students who remain on the list. The procedure now sends an email to newly enrolled students. Districts can customize the email's text, as well as the priority for accepting wait-listed students.

• If a course section ends today (or earlier), the Continuing Education Waitlist Update procedure now removes the wait list from a student's Course Registration and Course Enrollment pages.

• The Withdraw button now appears on a course section's Details screen. Before, users could only withdraw from the Course Enrollments screen.

• A Delete button appears on all tabs of an unsubmitted registration form. A confirmation pop-up allows the user to cancel the action in case the button was tapped unintentionally and they do not want to delete the registration.

• Error messages are more descriptive and aptly placed. Before, the error message appeared on the Submit tab, regardless of which tab contained the error.

• A confirmation message appears when a user withdraws from one or more course sections.

• Users can view Announcements from the Continuing Education view in the New Portal. The administrator must enable the 'Continuing education' field on the Visibility sub-tab for the announcement. (District [Root Organization] view, Pages > click Edit in the Announcements widget > click Edit or New > click Visibility sub-tab > enable Continuing education field)

Continuing Education is an add-on feature. Contact your Sales representative for information.

Set a default assignment category

Teachers can set a default assignment category for each class section. Select a class section and a category, and then enable the new field, 'Default category for assignments'. Aspen will automatically assign that category to each new assignment for the class. The teacher can manually edit an assignment's category, as needed. (Staff view, Gradebook > select a class section > Categories)

See Create assignment grades on the Categories side-tab for more information.

Additional colors for special codes

Now, when selecting a color to represent a special code, teachers have a more vibrant assortment of colors to choose from. Click the icon at the Color field, and then click a color on the Color Chooser pop-up. Select a color; you can make it lighter or darker by clicking a shade on the color gradations strip. The code appears in the selected color when it is entered on the Scores page. (Staff view, Tools > Special Codes)

See Create special codes for assignment grades for more information.

Special code enhancement for missing assignments

To prevent students from receiving zero points for missing assignments, teachers can now create a special code that is worth a percentage of an assignment's total points. For example, if a teacher creates a special code that is worth half an assignment's total points and enters it on their Scores page, the student would receive a 50 instead of zero. This could drastically reduce the impact on a student's average, especially for those who only miss one assignment. (Staff view, Tools > Special Codes)

See Create special codes for assignment grades for more information.

Expanded Teacher Classes widget

The Classes Meeting and Classes Not Meeting columns are wider, so teachers can more easily recognize and interact with their class sections in the widget. As before, Aspen truncates class names that are too long to display, and hovering the cursor over the truncated name reveals the full text. (Staff view, Pages)

New or updated preference	Where to access	Description
Changed District (Root Organization) and School Class Attendance preference: Allow date change in staff view	District (Root Organization) view, District (Root Organization) > Setup > Preferences > select Class Attendance category   School view, School > Setup > Preferences > select Class Attendance category	Renamed from Allow date change. When this field is enabled, staff members can enter class attendance for dates other than today (Staff view, Attendance > Class).
New District (Root Organization) and School Class Attendance preference: Allow date change for class roster in school view	District (Root Organization) view, District (Root Organization) > Setup > Preferences > select Class Attendance category   School view, School > Setup > Preferences > select Class Attendance category	When this field is enabled, staff members can enter class attendance for dates other than today (School view, Attendance > Class Roster).
New Intermediate Organization and School Schedule preference: Procedure Run Time	Intermediate Organization view, Intermediate Organization > Setup > Preferences > select Schedule category   School view, School > Setup > Preferences > select Schedule category	This field works in conjunction with the Allow future add/drop preference. The time entered here indicates when Aspen runs the job for the SYS-FUT-ADD-DROP procedure, which reviews and updates records related to student schedule changes. It defaults to 2:00 AM but can be changed. Note: The procedure SYS-FUT-ADD-DROP is now called Process Future Schedule Changes. Its previous name was Process Future Enrollment Changes.
Changed District (Root Organization) and School Family/Student Portal preference: Term performance display mode	District (Root Organization) view, District (Root Organization) > Setup > Preferences > select Family/Student Portal category   School view, School > Setup > Preferences > select Family/Student Portal category	This preference determines the value that displays on the Classes page in the portals and on the Classes screen in the New Portal (mobile). Options are Term average (default) and Cumulative average. See Define District Family and Student portal preferences for more information.

The following table lists new and updated system tables and user role security privileges in Aspen. Review your user roles to ensure the settings are appropriate for the default user roles used in your district (root organization) and any customized roles you've created from Aspen's default roles.

New or updated privilege	Default roles affected	Description	Where to access
New fields on the Graduation Student Program system table		The Graduation Student Program table has 5 new A fields (15 total) and 5 new B fields (10 total).	District (Root Organization) view, Admin > Data Dictionary > select Graduation Student Program table > Fields
New fields on the IEP Data system table		The IEP Data table has 20 new D fields (105 total).	District (Root Organization) view, Admin > Data Dictionary > select IEP Data table > Fields
New fields on the IEP Goal system table		The IEP Goal table has 20 new D fields (23 total).	District (Root Organization) view, Admin > Data Dictionary > select IEP Goal table > Fields
New fields on the Staff system table		The Staff table has 10 new D fields (15 total).	District (Root Organization) view, Admin > Data Dictionary > select Staff table > Fields
New fields on the Student Attendance system table		The Student Attendance table has 3 new A fields (4 total), 4 new B fields (5 total), 4 new C fields (4 total), and 5 new D fields (5 total).	District (Root Organization) view, Admin > Data Dictionary > select Student Attendance table > Fields
New fields on the Student Event Tracking system table		The Student Event Tracking table has 25 new A fields (35 total), 15 new B fields (25 total), 15 new C fields (25 total), and 5 new D fields (10 total).	District (Root Organization) view, Admin > Data Dictionary > select Student Event Tracking table > Fields
New system table: Tool Status		Tracks job requests and their status.	District (Root Organization) view, Admin > Data Dictionary > select Tool Status table
New security privilege: OneRoster API access	System Administrator	Required for API access by OneRoster or custom queries.	District (Root Organization) view, Admin > Security > Roles > select System Administrator > select Organization at Category. See Other column.
New security privilege: Query Builder API access	System Administrator	Required for API access by OneRoster or custom queries.	District (Root Organization) view, Admin > Security > Roles > select System Administrator > select Organization at Category. See Other column.