Book your demo and schedule your FAST upgrade because this is something you want to have. We know it and you know it!
In FAST Version 4.5 we are pleased to announce the introduction of our brand new Communication Centre, with fully integrated functionality to:
Send and receive direct 2-way SMS
Send bulk SMS messages to groups of employees and/or students
Use Email as an alternate communication tool where SMS may not be available
Interact directly with your student body using a communication tool they actually use!
Improve retention, enrolment and registration
And so much more!
If you have not yet seen our Communication Centre in action, be sure to contact us for a demo. If you have, then what are you waiting for? Schedule your upgrade to make the most of these powerful new tools.
If you’re an Administrator in FAST, then this should pique your interest!
The Menu Access form has been re-vamped and we think you’re going to love it! We’ve improved the user experience on the form by cleaning up the look of the page, adding neat sub-folders for the “child” nodes of menu headers and added an X option to quickly remove access without the need to “drag & drop” it a second time. But even more importantly, we’ve given you the ability to apply a “Cascade” option that will apply the selected role to all children on a menu.
Now this is huge! This can make the difference between grabbing that role once or twice versus 15 or more times for the very same reporting menu!
For help with this or any other Admin functionality across FAST, please don’t hesitate to inquire about custom training availability and options!
With the dawn of FAST Version 4.4 (schedule your upgrade if you have not already!), we are pleased to introduce the all new FAST Notifications. No more wondering, guessing or trying to send out mass emails to your FAST user groups when updates are made to Group Pinned Reports, Group Dashboards or to notify an approver that there is a new JV that has been sent for approval!
Find all of your FAST notifications in one easy-to-find and easy-to-read panel. End users can then clear individual notifications, clear all notifications and even drill-down to the new or updated Pinned Report. This is a great way to make sure that your user community stays up to speed and in the know about all the great reports available to them.
To schedule your upgrade or add your institution to the list, please Email Customer Support today!
This is a pretty new (and awesome!) new feature and to avoid confusion, check out this quick video to show you how it’s done!
Keep in mind that not all Budget Offices may be using this option but it’s definitely a cool option and provides a quick, easy and intuitive data entry option for your end users! This video will show you how to avoid some of the common challenges when accessing the data entry pop-up.
If you’re on your way to upgrading to the very cool 4.3.15 release or higher, you need to check out the new Admin video series that covers the new features including the FAST Table Builder that shows you how to create a quick and easy Oracle Table in FAST. You can create a table using a simple Excel upload or make one from scratch! You can then use that Table to create a multi-faceted data entry page right in your favourite FAST application! Capture data right in FAST and you manage who sees the page as a read-only report and who has data entry access to it.
If you don’t yet subscribe to the FAST training video libraries, what are you waiting for? Email us at training@mcsl.com to get started or for more info! We add tons of new video content all the time and it’s your best way to stay current on what’s new!
As a sneak peak – check out this brand new How Do I video on managing security for your new custom reporting pages!
Do you use one of the many FAST data-entry style pages? If you do, did you know that you can now import your data directly from an Excel spreadsheet? True story. You’ve always been able to download your FAST report data to Excel but you can now also save time, keystrokes and avoid input error by importing your external data right into your FAST data entry page!
Next time you’re on a data entry page, check out the Excel icon on the bottom right hand corner; it looks a little different now, right?
Click the arrow and select “Import Data from Excel”. Follow the simple instructions and watch your data populate right before your very eyes! The cool thing is, that you can also combine manually keyed-in data with your spreadsheet uploads – one will never over-write the other!
Save time, save effort and above all, reduce the risk associated with manual data entry!
Visualizations…I have a feeling you haven’t tried them yet, but they’re awesome now so it’s time!
Let’s say you have a report that gives you a ton of really valuable info…but I know sometimes you might wish that you could display some of that great data visually instead of just a bunch of data. A picture paints a thousand words, after all, right?
Here’s how it works:
Let’s say you have a column where you are tracking Budget Variance information… if that Budget Variance is favourable (like really favourable!), maybe you want to display the number with a nice big happy face! Now if it’s favourable but starting to slide a little, maybe you want to display that variance data with a caution sign. And of course if that variance has slid past the point of where you’re comfortable, maybe you want FAST to show you that data as a big, red “thumbs down”….you choose the parameters and you choose from our huge library of cool and cheeky images!
Run the report and then get visual indicators about where that budget really is! Plus, this works in any and every FAST App! Create cool Visualizations for age grouping of employees, application status or course enrolment numbers – the sky’s truly the limit!
PS – don’t forget to add a Virtual Column so that you can see both the original data and the Visualizations side by side!
For those of you using FAST JV, Web Req and/or Budget Transfers, there is an important, but often overlooked feature that allows you to ensure that any supporting documents you upload remain Confidential! In other words, they won’t be shared with other systems or flow through to the documents page in FAST Finance Reporting! Confidentiality is a big deal – make sure you know exactly what is going to show up and who can see it!
This can be crucial if those documents are sensitive in any way! You can opt to make all document uploads confidential or just pick and choose depending on the type of document being included.
As an Administrator, you can also pre-define the default for your Application by setting Configuration Setting #1338. End users can still override this setting by selecting (or de-selecting) the indicator.
If you are an application administrator, did you know that you can do this yourself and on a global level? Here’s how:
Locate the Report and find the Administration Tab (note: this is probably under your + More tab)
The first tab, called Datagrid Columns lists all the current columns in this report.
Locate the column title you wish to change; change the text right on this page! – the cell is case sensitive and if you need to make it slightly wider or more narrow, just change the “width” column right next to it!
Click Save and update changes.
Re-run the report – it is now changed for all end users who run this report!
Did you know you can tag them as “faves” on the Approval page so you don’t have to keep searching for their Employee ID’s every time?
The best part is, tag them ONCE and they maintain as long as you need! AND if you use the same approver in FAST Budget and Forecasting, JV and Web Req, they’ll automatically carry over to your other apps!
The process is simple:
Click on “send for approval” in whatever application you’re working in
Locate your approver using the search box or typing in their Employee ID
Once you find him/her, click the yellow STAR button next to the name
Never search again! Next time you need to send for approval, just click from your list of TAGGED approvers.
You can also tag as many as you like if you use more than one on a regular basis!
