Your Illumine.app experience is improving as we work to release new features, enhance existing ones, and squash bugs - cause we’re good buggers who hate bugs (and clearly need to work on our one-liners).
February may be a short month, but the list of new features being launched this month is long!
Here’s the list:
Multiple Language Support (7 languages added!)
Below is a deep dive of the improvements you’ll find in the latest release of February 2023.
1. Lead Automation 🆕
As part of the latest update, you now have the power to reach out to leads on auto-pilot, especially when you witness your enquiry rates go high. We have introduced a new sub-section called ‘Lead Settings’ under the ‘Leads’ module where you get access to these automations.
Here’s a line diagram of how the lead automation process works.
Let’s dive in!
From the left panel, select Leads → Lead Setting. Lead Settings is where you can automate all actions on your lead database based on their status change – Interested, Waitlisted, Toured, Admitted.
Just create the rule for a specific lead status, say ‘Interested, create actions to be taken for the rule, schedule tasks, and sit back.
As soon as the status of your lead changes to ‘Interested’ – the lead automation system automatically triggers the series of actions configured for this status.
2. Fee Automation 🆕
Just like the Leads module, you will delight in the automated features of the Fee module. A new subsection ‘Fee Settings’ allows you to set up and manage Fee automation. Under Fee Settings, you can also set up templates for fee-related emails.
As soon as an invoice is created, the fee automation process triggers a series of scheduled emails to be sent as reminders, late fee intimations, overdue, etc.
3. Admission Process 🆕
Forms can be a nightmare for many people. And when it comes to school administration, multiple forms are filled and collected throughout the year. Previously Illumine did away with physical forms and allowed the admin and parents to exchange forms digitally.
With the new release of Illumine, we are going that extra mile.
From the left panel, select Forms → 'Admission Process -- this new sub-module lets you automate sharing multiple forms related to a process, for example, onboarding a new student, special class registration, trip registration, and the like—all in one go.
There’s more. It also allows the admin to set a due date and track the progress of forms submission for each student.
Just create a process, say ‘Onboarding’. Add all the steps required to complete that process, for example— 1. Collect basic details, 2. Collect consent forms, 3. Collect medical records.
Each of these steps may include collecting multiple forms. Share the process of ‘Onboarding’ with all the relevant children. Sit back and watch the progress!
4. Group Messaging 🆕
Previously all parent communication was public to the entire staff and any staff member (with the required permissions) could respond. With this release, the Parent Communication module brings a lot more control and privacy into the hands of teachers.
As admins and teachers, you now have the ability to send personal messages to other teachers and parents, as well as create groups and engage in group messaging. This allows for personal space between parents and particular teachers to communicate on critical matters.
Let's dive in!
From the left panel, select Parent Communication --> Com You will see a new tab—Personal Message under the Parent communication module. It allows teachers to send messages to either of the parents of a child or to both.
A teacher can also create a group with multiple parents and teachers and initiate a restricted group conversation (let's say, for students enrolled in a particular class or program).
The group messages also appear in the ‘Personal Message’ tab.
On the parent app, a parent can send a personal message to a specific teacher, or start a conversation in a group that they are a part of.
5. Staff Leave Management 🆕
Staff Leave Management is one of the biggest enhancements of this release. It now covers all the nitty-gritty of leaves management :
Configuring 'Leave Types' and the allocation strategy
Tracking leaves taken, due, and the approval status
Generating reports
Let's dig in!
From the left panel, select Settings → Staff Leave Management. This new section allows you to configure different types of leaves to the minutest details.
You can assign the monthly increment of unused leaves, carryforwards at the end of the session, and default leaves at the beginning of the session. It lets you decide if you want to enable half-day leave or a negative leave balance or not. Also, define which days constitute weekends for your school.
Next, navigate to Attendance → Staff Leaves. This section gives you a window into all staff leaves - past, present, and future; those approved earlier and those pending approval. Using the filters on the top, you can look at specific date ranges and approval statuses.
Further, you can also record leaves using the ‘New Leave’ option on the top right of the section-screen.
If you wish to look at a particular teacher or staff member’s leaves, from the left panel, navigate to Management → Staff and click on a staff member and select the ‘Leaves’ 🆕 tab and view the leave statistics for the selected staff member.
6. Multiple Language Support 🆙
Your favorite childcare app will now support your center in global languages. Admins, teachers, and parents can independently select any of the 8 available languages besides English on their respective apps.
From the left panel, go to ‘Help’ and select your language from the dropdown. You can now view the app in your chosen language.
7. Other Enhancements
Student’s Picture Gallery now has Favorites
Use available credit to settle fees while generating invoice
Download student notes at student & classroom level
Gender field now has ‘Prefer not to say’ option
New section called ‘Birthday Calendar’ created for upcoming birthdays.
Activity comments can be deleted by the author of the comment or superadmin.
Activity posted can be edited while still in approval pending state.
Date Format of preference can be chosen.
Under Student → Gallery, the user can now apply a filter on the pictures marked as ‘favorite’ by parents.
You can now use available credit to settle a student’s fees while generating the invoice, through a simple checkbox option. Formerly, available credit could be used to settle fees ‘after’ the invoice was raised (and not ‘during’ invoice creation).
You can now download all available notes for a Student, or a particular Classroom in Excel format. From the left panel, go to Reports → Excel Reports, and then scroll down to ‘Students’ section of the screen and you will see an additional report available for Student Notes.
All gender dropdown fields in Illumine app now have an additional option— ‘Prefer not to say’.
Upcoming birthdays get a dedicated space under, Management → Birthday Calendar
Comments on any activity can be deleted by the author of the comment or the Super-Admin.
Ability to edit a posted activity before it is approved.
Date Format of preference can be chosen and applied throughout the platform. From the left panel, scroll down to Settings → Other Settings → Date Format (and select preferred format).
Bug Fixes
Some minor technical issues were fixed in the backend as well. Nothing noteworthy from a user standpoint in this release.