Case Management Roadmap Update—August 2023

So far in 2023, the team at Social Solutions, which is part of Bonterra, has been hard at work bringing you features we know you’ve been anticipating. To name a few: Time-Based Alerts and Smart Fields were released in the first half of 2023. We strengthened our case management foundations with upgrades to Penelope’s billing service, improvements to Apricot’s accessibility, and several technical upgrades throughout the year. We also built long-term accelerators with an ETO Results Reporting Engine upgrade and enhanced usability, especially when working with high volumes of participants. And looking ahead to the second part of the year, there is so much more to get excited about! 

Social Solutions’ product team is focusing on features and updates that align with the following themes: 

• Strengthen and Simplify Case Foundations. In Apricot and ETO, we plan to update Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) reports, forms, and touchpoints aligned to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-requested changes. These changes will automatically update on your instance, so you don’t have to worry about being in compliance or performing hours of manual updates. We’re also making continuous technical upgrades across Apricot, ETO, and Penelope that maintain security and improve performance. 
• Go Beyond Case Management. We are thrilled to announce that Inventory Management is coming to Apricot 360! You will be able to track the availability and usage of resources and goods in your organization. Inventory Management is currently available to Apricot 360 customers to beta test. Reach out to customer support if you would like to activate Inventory Management. Additionally, we’re making attendance tracker reporting updates so you can understand which staff entered and edited attendance notes from your reports.  
• Surface the Most Relevant Data. Apricot’s Interactive Inventory Dashboard will provide key insights from our new Inventory capabilities and provide clear answers to commonly asked questions. Apricot Reporting improvements will be focused on Apricot’s underlying reporting architecture, targeting report speed and data access. 

In the roadmap recording below, we give more details about the new product updates we’ve rolled out so far this year, along with what you can expect in the second half of 2023. Be sure to also read the Q&A below from the live event. We aim to lift you up with critical product updates that will enable you to create better outcomes in the communities you serve.  

Roadmap video

Q&A 

General Questions 

How can I remain up to date on new changes that have been released? 

There are multiple ways you can keep up to date on new releases! We communicate through in-app notifications, email newsletters, and the release notes section of our knowledge base. If you haven’t seen them, or need help finding these features, make sure to reach out to your Customer Success Manager. 

Apricot  

Can we see capabilities by Apricot versions? 

Check out this breakdown of Apricot packages.  

Can you add a picture to your user profile? 

Not yet! Make sure to upvote this submission in the Ideas Portal. 

What enhancements have been made to imports? 

We upgraded the back-end technology that improves both the pace and volume of imports. 

Attendance Tracker  

Is there an estimated timeline for when Attendance Tracker Reporting updates will be released? 

Attendance Tracker Reporting updates are live within Native Reporting. 

Branding  

When will we start to see more Bonterra branding across our case management products? 

You can expect to see more Bonterra branding across our case management products later this year.

Apricot Connect  

Do participants still need to have an email address to use Apricot Connect? 

Participant emails are needed to register for Connect Portal. Make sure to check out and upvote suggestions for expanded registration paths in the Ideas Portal! 

Can I send texts or emails to multiple participants at once? 

With Apricot Connect, direct texts and emails can be sent to multiple participants at once. Check out more information on the Apricot Connect feature. 

ETO  

Can you speak more to the Document Batch Upload for ETO? How exactly will that work? When will it be available for use? 

This is available now. Please contact Support to have the feature enabled. You can read detailed information on the release. 

Is there a limit to the number of documents that can be uploaded in ETO Batch Upload? 

We do not recommend uploading over 600 rows at once; larger files may take longer to process. Each attachment must be less than 100MB. 

Can you expand more on the roadmap for ETO?  

In addition to updating HMIS reports, forms, and touchpoints, our team is focused on technical upgrades, regular security updates, and compliance maintenance to improve the product overall. Our priority continues to be maintaining the highest standards of security and we strive to provide the best performance possible.

HMIS  

Is ETO HMIS Housing Check-in and Check-out browser neutral? 

Yes, this functionality is browser-neutral. 

Will Apricot support all HMIS reports, or just a select few? 

Apricot today supports all HMIS reports within our Apricot for Homeless Services (AHS) package. 

Does Social Solutions work directly with HUD and do you support all HUD and HMIS reports? 

We do work directly with HUD, as well as attend their monthly vendor meetings and monitor their vendor wiki for updates. Apricot has all required HMIS reports through the AHS package and ETO has all required reports through the ETO HMIS package. 

Integrations  

Have you considered an internal ticketing system so users can send questions to their administrators? 

Interesting idea! We recommend submitting this to our Ideas Portal so we can learn more and gauge demand. 

Inventory  

Will the new Inventory module be able to track more than beds? 

The Inventory module can be customized to handle a variety of resources. There is the ability to distribute both returnable (multi-use) resources as well as non-returnable (consumable) resources. 

Which tier of Apricot will the Inventory module be available to? 

Inventory is available to all Apricot 360 customers. If you are interested in how your organization can start using Inventory, reach out to your Customer Success, Account Manager, or technical support to learn more! 

Penelope  

Are Penelope, Apricot, and ETO related or are they completely separate? Meaning, are the updates on ETO relevant to Penelope? 

While each of the three products are part of our case management solution offerings, they are three unique products. 

Platform  

I’m not currently on Apricot, but I’m interested in learning more. What are my options? 

If you’d like to learn more about Apricot or see if it’s right for your organization, make sure to reach out to your Customer Success Manager or Account Manager. 

What options are available for integrating my Apricot instance with other tools my organization uses? 

Apricot has many options for getting data in or out based on your organization’s needs. If you have a specific integration in mind, reach out to your Customer Success Manager or Account Manager to learn what’s possible. 

Reporting  

Will the dashboard feature be available for other forms aside from the Inventory feature? 

That is the plan, but we do not have a timeline on how quickly that will be available. Other data from Apricot will be coming to our new interactive dashboards. Inventory will just be first as we build out this capability. 

How do I access the pre-built report templates in ETO? 

You can access them on the View Reports page in ETO or by selecting the Standard Reports folder within the Public folder in ETO Results. 

Will the new dashboards be organized by user roles or responsibilities, such as departments? 

Our current Apricot dashboards’ work will be surfacing the most relevant data for the Inventory Management feature. We will organize and customize dashboards, considering all of Apricot’s features and users’ varying roles and responsibilities. We are looking forward to learning what works best for different organizations. 

Will the work around new dashboards also impact existing dashboards? Will we be able to hide dashboards if we don’t use them? 

We are starting with inventory management data on an intuitive dashboard. In future releases, we will share those improvements with existing dashboard tabs. We also plan to give organizations options for accessing new dashboards. We haven’t decided on the user experience yet for adding, removing, or hiding specific dashboard tabs from users or roles. Stay tuned. 

Smart Fields  

Which tiers of Apricot have access to Smart Fields? 

Smart Fields are available to Apricot Core and 360 customers. 

Can a Smart List be set as Quickview or Searchable? Can it be Autopopulated? 

Not at this time. Make sure to add and upvote this submission in the Ideas Portal! And please include what you’re trying to achieve with Autopopulate and Smart Lists; context is so helpful as we solve your problems. 

Can a Smart Field Preset reference Sites and Programs setup in Apricot? 

Not at this time. Make sure to add and upvote this submission in the Ideas Portal! We’re curious to learn what data needs to be available for Smart Fields.  

Can Smart Fields create a list of active users? 

For users, we recommend checking out the “User List” field. This field type will show you active users. See more information in our Knowledge Base. 

How are Smart Fields different from Lookup Lists? 

Great question! Lookup Lists require an administrator to manually update the list options as time goes on and your needs as an organization change. A Smart List’s options will automatically update based your Smart Field Preset’s setup and the data you enter in Tier 1 or Tier 2 records. 

Will Smart Fields also be available in ETO? 

Smart Fields is not available in ETO, but we do have similar functionality in cross references. We recommend this Knowledge Base article.

Where can I learn more about Smart Fields? 

Read the release notes for Smart Fields. We also recommend watching this video on Smart Field Presets that were introduced with the new Smart List field type. 

Time-Based Alerts  

When will time-based alerts be available in Apricot Core or Essentials? 

Time-Based Alerts are offered to Apricot 360 customers. We do not have a timeline on releasing Time-Based Alerts to Core or Essentials customers. Please reach out to your Account Manager to see if Apricot 360 could be a better fit for your organization. 

How are Apricot alerts delivered? Can they be shown in Bulletins? 

Currently alerts can be delivered in-product (under the bell icon in the top nav), via email, or both. We appreciate the feedback about wanting alerts displayed within Bulletins and are considering it. 

Are there any Apricot Rules & Alerts trainings? 

Yes! Our knowledge base has videos and walk-through tutorials available. We also have a formal training lab you can access for free through September 2023.  

Will there be further enhancements to Time-Based Alerts? 

Yes! We have a big vision for Rules & Alerts. Stay tuned! 

Can Time-Based Alerts notify users when something is expiring? 

Yes, this is a great use case. When building your rule, choose “Upcoming” and select however long in advance you want to be alerted (for example, one week, 20 days, etc.).