MSA 5.0 Release Notes

Enhancement

Added Support for MySchoolBucks SSO Login

We have enabled MySchoolBucks Single Sign-On for all MySchoolApps users. For more information including training videos and FAQs, please review this MySchoolBucks Login Security Updates article.

Enhancement

Added Support for Puerto Rico

• Added Puerto Rico Time Zone

• Added Puerto Rico as a State

Fixes

Income Prompt

Fixed a bug that was prompting for income and additional demographic data when those fields should be skipped.

Fixes

School Drop-down Transparent

Fixed a bug that was removing a solid background from the school drop-down list if “Use Autocomplete School Search” was enabled.

Adult Signer Page Erroring

Fixed a bug that was erroring when navigating back to the Signer page if a SSN was present.

Custom String URLs Redirecting to Same Location

Fixed a bug that was causing URLs entered in Custom Strings to navigate away from MySchoolApps to the first selected URL no matter which URL was selected.

With introducing Year-round applications, comes the added benefit of being able to access the “prior-year” database. The current year database becomes the prior-year database upon release of the “upcoming school year” version. Please note that adding and inactivating users once the school year has rolled only updates in one system. The same occurs when changing your password. You must update them in both systems as they are independent of each other to support both databases.

Prior-year url: www2.myschoolapps.com/Admin

Current year url: www.myschoolapps.com

New Features

Ability to disable gender field

Districts now have the ability to disable (hide) the gender field on MSA Free & Reduced applications.
Setup | Application Settings | Misc Settings | Prompt for Gender

Open

Pending Applications Alert Email

We have added a System Alert email regarding pending applications. The email will alert management companies of Districts who have pending applications along with a total of those applications.
Note: To receive an alert email, the email address for the receiving administrator must be up-to-date.
Administration Home | System Alerts

Open

Add New Application “Section” for Children (Non-Students)

To conform with the USDA Online Application prototype, a new section has been added to capture data for non-student children separately from students and household members. Districts now have the ability to choose whether or not to prompt for special circumstance options (migrant/homeless/runaway/headstart), birthdate, age, income, etc. for non-students residing in the household.
Setup | Application Settings | Misc Settings

Enhancements

Updated Privacy Policy which also includes California laws

We have updated our Privacy Policy for our California users to be compliant with California laws.

Remove Maintenance Mode and Update Web.config 

We have begun preparations to allow EOY to run successfully for our Districts.

Add District Name to Unresolved District Alert Email

Updated alert emails to contain the District Name.

Change option for address required and enhance default description

We have updated the option for requiring addresses on applications. Selecting this option allows the applicant to choose NOT to provide any address information on the application (makes the address optional).  Turning this on is recommended by the USDA as it reduces the exclusion of homeless applicants; however, it can decrease application accuracy/validity. The checkbox will now be selected by default.

Updated Income Eligibility Guidelines for the 2020-2021 School Year.

We have updated the Income Eligibility Guidelines in accordance with the USDA 2020-2021 School Year.

Redirect all non-admin traffic to www2 between MSA EOY and July 1

The system will redirect all non-admin traffic to the “beta” site after End-of-Year has been run in MSA and before July 1st.
Note: HSS users and District admins should be able to log in to admin on both the current 2019-2020 School Year website (www2.myschoolapps.com) and the upcoming 2020-2021 School Year website (www.myschoolapps.com).

Min/Max FDPIR Case Number Validation

Added logic to prevent users from saving invalid values.

Fixes

Emancipated Minor

Fixed a bug that was forcing an emancipated minor to add themselves as a household member.