v4.0 iChannel Oct 2022

Date: Oct 14, 2022

Version: status:4.0

What’s New with iChannel v4.0 version:

iChannel v4.0 comes with enhanced Security in both iChannel and Client Portal, coupled with much anticipated new features such as the all new Reports Module, Request Roll Over tool and Microsoft Multifactor Authentication together with upgrades to File Area Features, Routing Module, Request Module and Client Portal.

Click the link for a quick introduction video to learn what's new: NEW 2022 Comming Attractions iChannel v4
All iChannel Training material can be found by clicking the following link: iChannel Community Support and iChannel University
iChannel public API spec for v4.0: https://app.swaggerhub.com/apis/jinaths/iChannelAPI/4.0

Module	What’s New

Module	What’s New
Security	We have updated our code throughout iChannel application which has enhanced the application security and vulnerabilities with regard to iChannel Client Portal and Internal Application. The server side security of the web application is improved by making sure only trusted hosts will be able to change file locations. Due to the security issues triggered from FCKeditor we have removed it’s usages and switched to using CKeditor. Due to security vulnerabilities found on 3rd party plugins Ghostscript and pdftojpg.exe, their usage was removed.
Reports Module	The all-new Reports module brings ease of accessing all the iChannel reports in one page, made available according to the report permissions for the users. Access to the reports can be restricted based on users Security Groups. All new with the Reports module is the introduction to Power BI reports. The users can also be able to access Power BI repots from the same screen. New Report module
Request Roll Over	The iChannel application will Filter existing request lists by searching records based on template and will show the Request List according to search criteria.
Help Button	A YouTube icon is placed in following screens replacing the help button so that when clicks the YouTube icon user will be able to see a dedicated iChannel produced YouTube videos that provides the necessary information to assist the user with quick “show me” on how to use relevant features on that screen. System Sites Security Groups Request Module Workflow Search Request File Hyperlink Retention Module Dashboard
Authentication	For improved Information Security we have introduced Multi Factor Authentication to the iChannel application with Office 365. Each time a non admin user log in the user will be authenticated using Microsoft Account.
Request Module	All new report for Requests has been introduced to the Request Module. Click on the ‘Generate Report’ button after navigating to a selected Site, and an Excel report of all the Requests with details will be downloaded to your device in a excel format. How to Generate the Report
	To easily filter the Requests within a site, the Request Navigation Panel similar to that in Portal, has been introduced to iChannel. The new My Request List screen
	End users will be receiving an email notification, reminding them to submit pending documents for Requests. The admin can now define the number of days before expiry of request which this reminder will be triggered can be configured. To configure this admin must navigate to the server and follow the path D > iChannel > web > config > appsetting config file. The Setting Reminder4Request
	The Admin Users can now assign Request Module permissions to users based on the user Security Group. Access to the Request Module permissions now can be controlled centrally. With this enhancement following improvements were also made. Determine which User Groups can see the Request Module in their menu, Decide which user can accept or reject documents using the Request Module. Which users can create New Requests or create New Requests using templates. The permissions to the request module functions will be restricted based on the Site Level access available to the user. User Group permissions page
	Request List Templates can be deleted using the delete button available for each record as long as they are used to create Requests in iChannel. Delete Templates
	A redirect button to ‘Request Module’ is introduced to the Client Detail page of the sites that consists of File Areas. Request Module from Client Detail Page
	In the new request module we have included a new feature where a reminder notification can be setup for a request. This time frame to send this notification can be configured based on AppSettings. The reminder notifications will be received via e-mail in the below format. Request reminder notification e-mail
	Click on the file name to directly download the documents from Request List grid. Request List grid
File Area	All new 'Save Filter' checkbox option is introduced to retain the filters applied to the File Area. The filters will be saved across sessions for the user so that whenever you revisit a File Area, you are ready to continue from where you left off. File Area session filter save
	To the File Area search results grid a new column has been introduced to identify the site name of the files searched. Site column File Search results grid
	Enabled and enhanced the Common Background Services of the File Area by enabling File Area Checker service and making sure that it is executed at times that does not effect activities of the users.
	When attempting to upload CaseWare files with illegal characters, the users will be warned with a pop-up message. CaseWare File import warning
Routing	The existing Ghoscript is replaced with Docnet.Core for Routing/DPP in iChannel to improve against vulnerabilities.
Portal	Two-Factor-Authentication is made mandatory to application security of the Client Portal.
Emails	iChannel will support sending emails via third-party SMTP servers so that all emails are delivered without issues. Users can customize the email created for Discussions. The Email functionality of iChannel is now fully converted to .net framework and it is equipped with a Email search option bar that will allow users to search Emails based on date, From, To and CC and other contents in a e-mail.
iCD	SignalR is no longer used in iCD. Users should use iFetch if they need to use direct mode.

Module	What’s Upgraded

Module	What’s Upgraded
Security	Advanced Query option has been temporarily removed from iChannel as a security measure.
	IChannel is now reading Security from SQL but writes to foxpro. One of the tables is tchsecxgroup.dbf. The sync of the two databases occur at the top of the hour. So if a change occurs with one of the tables in foxpro the affects will not show till the top of the hour. Therefore we have placed a banner on top of the Group Permission for Site screen. This banner indicates that “Please be advice. Changes to this page may take time to process.” Group permissions for site
	Updated CKEditor to latest version for enhanced Security.
Routing Module	All the Primary and Secondary categories from the relevant site will be available to assign the document to routing. Define Primary and secondary categories
	Files with invalid characters in the file names will be validated and restricted from routing, thereby preventing potential issues.
	When routing attempt is cancelled in the process, the file will revert to ‘Not Routed’ status on the Routing Grid, until a document is properly routed. iChannel Routing screen
	Scrolling through the entire list of items i.e. Infinite Scrolling is re-enabled. Infinite scrolling available in Routing module
Request Module	Setting ‘Due Dates’ prior to current date is disabled, thereby minimizing chances for human errors.
	The filter settings and page viewing settings will be retained for a previously viewed site across user sessions. The settings retained are: Request Status Requested Date Range selection Due Date Range selection Number of requests per page Number of files per page Request Summary view expansion My Request list
	The request rollforward landing page now requires site name as a compulsory filter. All requests that can be rolled over must be created based on a template. We believe this would reduce the number of search results and reduce the burden on the application. The request template will also determine the due date and request list name. This will be communicated using toast message when roll forward is performed Using Advance Filter option a user will be able to search records using User Defined Fields. In the version 4.0 the grid will be listing the search results with the original request name and details. Due Date column will be removed from the search results grid view. The system will also allow to roll forward multiple requests. Rollforward Request Screen
	The concurrent review in Requests has been enhanced such that when the Portal User has downloaded a document submitted for a Request for editing: the same document listed under the Request will be marked as ‘Pending' and there will be a label indicating ‘Downloaded’. the document will include a new button as ‘Take Control’ which will allow internal user to proceed with ‘Approve’ or ‘Decline’ if needed. ‘Take Over’ will only be available until the view is refreshed. and has replaced the document once again, the ‘Downloaded’ label along with ‘Take Control’ button will be removed and replaced with usual ‘Approve’, ‘Download’ and ‘Decline’ options.
Requests	Spaces typed in for the Email Id input will not be accepted and will be validated in the file submission via link flow.
Retention Module	When files are deleted from the Retention module, all related version files will also be deleted from the folders. Search result filtering is corrected for files that are in ‘Legal Hold Status’. Relevant files will only be in included in search results if the check box is ticked for “Include File Areas on Legal Hold“.
Workflow Module	The total amount of Workflow search results will be indicated at the bottom of the grid. When a workflow is created via Workflow Roll Over tool, the History tab of the new workflow include an entry indicating which template was used by the Roll Over tool to create this workflow.
	In a workflow, when a original due dates occur on a weekend, it changes to the next business date based on a enhancement made. Workflow module
	In the workflow grid view, users can set the columns with the new 'column chooser' option so that the table displays the info the viewer needs and also rearrange based on the users preference. Workflow Grid View column chooser
File Area	File History will include more information on DocuSign to whom the document sent to ID verification workflow name as applicable for a document
	The iChannel will now ensure that correct status is shown when a document is signed using DocuSign by assigning the completion certification. The user is also now able to see the certifier id.
	Server side missing document can now easily be identified by a user with the New Icon shown below. It indicates that the file which was previously there is now missing. File Area screen
	If a user wants to know the meaning of the status in File Area Documents all that needs to be done is click on the exclamation mark on the top of the File Area accordion and iChannel will display a dictionary of statuses. The user can keep the status dictionary opened while working on files. This dictionary can be closed once referred. Dictionary of statuses
	The ability to open, edit and update ‘Submitted’ documents from File Area in Direct Mode is re-introduced for users with Direct mode enabled.
	When a file is recategorized, the changes will be recorded in File History for reference.
	The Client Portal users can now upload a file with title which has up to 200 characters. Before this enhancement it was limited to only 85 characters. If the length of the title of the file is more than 200 characters it will be trimmed to 200 characters and will be uploaded to the Client Portal.
	The auto sweep function of iChannel will not only upload caseware files with extension ‘ac’. It will also upload all file types that exist in caseware when executed in the server.
	As a customer if you are struggling with the long waiting time when it comes to file uploads as the system validates whether same file exist in the file server we have introduced a new setting in app.setting.config for our clients to decide whether this validation is required or not. From making this setting false the iChannel will skip this validation and file upload will complete soon. This can be made false by the iChannel server admin of your organization.
	When users search
	Saving an edit done to the File via File Properties is improved for better user experience.
E-Mail	IChannel E-Mail is now equipped with a user friendly grid. That will help users to easily navigate through their emails and effectively respond for e-mails that they received. ICMail Grid
Docusign	A new setting has been introduced in AppSettings.config which is named as “DocuSignGetCompletionCert“ and we have made this setting as true by default. If a customer wants to ensure that document status should not be complete at the time it is being signed the server admin will be able to make it false.
Portal	The file submission experience for Requests has been enhanced such that when the Portal User views a Request: a new button ‘Upload New Files’ will be available to add any new files for the same request, on top of what has been already submitted if an uploaded document needs to be edited, user can click on the document title and the file will be downloaded to the device for offline editing. In the meantime, the internal iChannel users will be indicated that the file has been ‘Downloaded’ by the portal users, so that they can await changes. if an already submitted document has been downloaded for further edits, that document can be then replaced with the latest file by clicking on the ‘Replace This File’ button against the file. Once replaced, the internal iChannel users can proceed with reviewing the documents as usual.
	We have remove all hyperlinks in Portal that direct to the Internal sites as it is likely to pose a IDOR vulnerability. We have kept the information to be available and only removed the links.
CRM	Activities can be sorted by Activity 'Type’ column alphabetically, by clicking on the sorting icon against the column header.
CRM	When deleting a Contact from iChannel, a confirmation pop-up will be prompted to get user consent before proceeding. On confirmation, the contact and all its associations within iChannel will be deleted.
API	Two additional unique emails can be added on top of the primary email via API for user contacts.
API	All iChannel UDFs are now exposed as optional parameters in the generic CRM API, bring the ease of mapping additional information to UDFs and sending respective details to iChannel. Generic CRM API now enabled for users to pick the site templates. Users will be able to easily create sites via the API according to the templates they require, without sticking into the same default template. API Specs: https://app.swaggerhub.com/apis/jinaths/iChannelAPI/4.0

Module	What’s Fixed

Module	What’s Fixed
General	With release 4.0 we will be removing Signal R real time web functionality from the config files. Since ICD no longer use Signal R for direct mode feature. This is because Signal R connections have caused performance dropped creating too many traffic in IIS.
Routing Module	Clicking on ‘Save’ after adding Notes to documents in Routing grid will automatically take the user back to Routing grid view. Users can see the note added in the pop up when the cursor is hovered over the Green Routing Arrow. When selecting users to create a new Request List, the Client Portal list of users are now displayed in the ascending order based on the users last name. Create A New Request List
	In the new release we have fixed the issue associated with file name of the files routed. The File Title and File name will be now updated based on the advance root settings of the root site.
	Target subfolder will load correctly for manual routing with the new fix.
File Area	File list in file area will stay expanded for browsing even when Submitted and Requested file sections are expanded. All .msg and .eml files types are now included for ‘Email’ search filter. ''Show CaseWare files' will filter-in the compressed CaseWare also. Items marked for deletion will no longer be in the list when viewed in iCD.
	Fixed the issue associated with File showing incorrect status for documents which have been sighed using DocuSign.
	The issue associated with File recategorization is now fixed so that recategorization will not change the File name in the Database Level. This would allow a user to use the File after recategorization.
	Before the new release when file is renamed in properties and the Save button is pressed the file renamed will be reinstated to the original name. This defect is now fixed and the file will remain renamed when save button in properties is pressed.
	Fixed the issue associated with deleted requests still showing in the File Area - Activity Tab. The iChannel application will now ensure that deleted requests will be immediately removed from File Area - Activity Tab.
	The “Reassign Site” feature in the Contact Detail screen, will not allow you to link to a subscriber that is already link & also will not allow a user to link to a subscriber with the same email and user id which will allow a duplicate subscriber as well. Need to insert a check to see if the subscriber exists and to check to see if the subscriber is linked to another contact. If either scenario is true then iChannel will not allow the user to link the subscriber or create a new subscriber.
	When users search files in the File Area the system will ensure that they will only see files which they have permission to see. This will be based on the File viewing permissions granted to users.
	The temporary displaying of '+' character in place of Blank Spaces in between words is fixed and the file name will be displayed properly without the need of refreshing.
Requests	The Email format is corrected and the viewers will notice the link for file submission placed within the email body.
Workflow	The incident associated with User Defined Fields values as such as Custom Field does not show data in Custom Field column in Workflow Task List grid is now Fixed. If there is data for Custom Fields for records as such as User Defined Fields will be visible in the Workflow Task List grid. The workflows can now be associated with multiple clients and can be saved without experiencing any errors. The hardcoded content in Project e-mail subject that says completed has been removed.
Contacts	The system has also introduced a validation when assigning or creating subscriber already created to prevent duplicate subscribers from being created. When linking the Subscriber to the Site, once the user clicks “Save” the screen will return to the Subscriber Detail screen showing the updated Site links. Before version 4.0 the “Reassign Site” feature in the Contact Detail screen, it will allow a user to link a subscriber that is already link & will allow you to link a subscriber with the same email and user id which will also allow a duplicate subscriber. From version 4.0 onwards the system will validate and see if the subscriber exists and also validate whether if the subscriber is linked to another contact. If either scenario is true then iChannel will not allow the user to link the subscriber or create the new subscriber.
Client Portal	The issue associated with Client Portal showing the previously uploaded folder of a user for new uploads is fixed by making sure that user would always see the Default Folder as the Upload Folder when attempting to upload a new file.

iChannel Release Notes

v4.0 iChannel Oct 2022

What’s New with iChannel v4.0 version:

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