Enhancements are delivered by download for InStar users authorized to download updates per the setting in User Setup. Your versions of the various libraries can be viewed under InStar Menu Help >> About InStar. We changed the format of versions to be a date in format YYYY.MM.DD to make this easier to follow and for us to track.
InStar Ver 2024.03.21 Future Released for Download
EDI Update
Ver 2024.03.21
EDI
Ver 2024.03.21
Email
Ver 2024.03.21
Correction for prompt to download updates for users with Security to download updates. Was not displaying Update Prompt.
Correction for loading Enhanced User Preferences at login, this was not being done.
EDocs and Email Attachments tool tip will display entire document description when hovering mouse so user does not need to expand the column.
Correction for reading download notes so they display properly. Updated Orphans window to allow resizing, can resize the Row and column added to display a downloaded note so the note does not need to be opened to determine client on which to file.
InStar backup; Update to backup log to properly display time of log entry and user code so can track users not performing backups when prompt.
Correction to stop login passwords from becoming corrupted.
Update to global list sort to make the sort case insensitive so “A” and “a” are sorted together regardless of case.
Menu Main >> Reporting >> Policy Reporting; Expiration Lists excluded Inactive Users and Producers by default. Can be added back with ck box. Added Count for Producer List and Selected Producers for agencies having many producers.
Updated Aged Receivables window to allow for resizing for better viewing.
Update to Cross Reference on the Client window to allow to store multiple Cross References separated by a semi-colon ;. Works best using a client number as names must be exact and may change. To Cross Ref 2 or more clients just add the ONE client code to all Clients.
Increased the number of characters for the Client custom fields from 35 to 65.
Updated E-Docs list to display Document or Description in a tool tip so user can see the entire thing by just hovering the mouse rather than expanding the column.
InStar Ver 2024.01.29 Released for Download
Update for printing of W2 to properly align with the 2023 W2
InStar Ver 2024.01.22 Released for Download
Correction for proper formatting of numbers on the Life Health Dec window left out of previous update.
InStar Ver 2024.01.19 Released for Download
EDI Update
Ver 2024.01.19
EDI
Ver 2024.01.19
Email
Ver 2024.01.16
THIS UPDATE WILL RE-ORGANIZE COMPRESSED DATA IN LETTERS, WORD DOCS AND DOWNLOADS FOR A NEWER TYPE OF DATA COMPRESSION IN PREPARATION FOR LATER UPDATES TO INSTAR.
Correction to finding the data folder by InStar no longer requires the work “InStar” in the folder path.
Tax form W2 report adjusted to line up with newer federal form. *Adjustments will need to be made in User Preferences under the Accounting tab until your specific printer lines up with the fields on the report.
On all Certificate Lists updated to allow for multiple selection and deletion of Certificates.
For InStar Backups in Main Setup added a 2nd Path for those that want the InStar Backup saved in two different locations.
Journal Entry window Date, added help message to clarify the user can only post to the prior accounting year. No posting back more than 1 year.
Received Email View Window, changes to properly resize the main body field when resizing the window.
Many changes to numerous objects to properly compress binary data when needed using the newer techniques that will also work as we move to newer versions of InStar.
Updated right-click option on binder list to properly open a binder from the pop-up menu.
EDocs windows enhanced to handle methods from the upcoming Client Portal
InStar Ver 2023.11.30 Released for Download
Bank Deposit and Reconcile windows were resized made adjustable for those having issues with the windows displaying Properly
InStar Ver 2023.11.14 Released for Download
EMail
Ver 2023.11.02
EDI
Ver 2023.11.02
EDI Update
Ver 2023.11.02
Storage of Printer in User Preferences is now available. If during login InStar does not find the printer the user will be prompt to select a printer. Very useful for those on cloud servers.
Fix for Printing Quote to a Printer
Lengthened Serial number on Scheduled Equipment.
Corrected Vendor List not opening the correct Vendor when loading a Vendor from the List.
Quote Window; setup printing to Pending PDF and Email directly from Quote Window.
Correction for Printing Checks not prompting user if the check printed correctly and then posting on close of window
Notes, Follow Up, FloTrax; Added ability to search the Text Field of long items for words.
Email Merge Fields; Correction to show the Email Signature field field in the pick list
Email Address Pick List; Added a ck box to allow inactive users in the contact list. Default is to exclude inactive users.
Email; Update for Forward to allow for Duplicate, keeps email addresses and does not lose attachments even when another user forwards the email.
Letter/Email; Correction for filling the Subject/Regarding line with the Content template
Restriction to only allow Journal Entries into 1 year prior to current accounting year to stop Out of Balance issues.
Removed stop from Allocating Monies when there is a broker/client conflict like taking full payment on a Brokered Invoice
FloTrax has been enhanced to allow for opening multiple detail windows and attaching existing items (Notes, Follow Up, PCR, Cert, Claims, etc.) when sensible.
InStar can take a “web poke” from a Soft Phone to open the client in InStar. Contact support if you wish us to look at your phone to add this functionality to InStar.
Update to Cancellation printing to print cancellations for all AI’s even if over 5. Previously would only print Cancellations for the first 5 AI’s.
Cancellation Report added option to include or exclude Dead Policy Status.
Certificate and EDocs have a Published check box in preparation for being able to publish items to the client portal. Publish means the client will see and be able to download those items.
Search options added to most Windows with lists. Search defaults to search all relevant fields or user can restrict search to specific fields. This will greatly enhance the users ability to find items.
Moved Work Comp ACORD updated form to be printed from InStar rather than EDI Enhanced and corrected issue with agency address.
Added User IP Address to the In/Out Board to assist with future messaging functions.
Drag N Drop file from Windows Explorer or Desktop to the InStar Client window or Policy to file items to EDocs
Enhanced Browse for Email Attachments to open list of Quick File locations then open a Windows Explorer window and user can drag N drop 1 or more files. Previously limited to 1 file at a time.
Preparatory work for upcoming Client Portal option to publish certificates, EDocs for download, Texting, Bill Pay, Auto ID Cards etc. by clients. These are future items but are necessary for our alpha testing.
Added ability to file e-mail attachments to EDocs from the enhanced e-mail inbox by right-click or drag and drop onto the client window or policy.
Added a user preference to turn off typeahead when addressing e-mail in InStar.
Added a user preference to open Outlook e-mail rather than InStar letter. Right-click will allow user to view either in InStar or the attached Outlook e-mail.
Enhance filing of EDocs to allow for drag-N-drop from Windows Explorer or Quick Filing window or enhanced e-mail inbox. Client window Other button will allow for browse of stored quick file folders.
Follow ups added Calendar to pick a date.
Letter Email correction for type ahead jumping to end of existing text.
Aged Receivables added Calendar for date selection and allow input of a future date
Bank Reconcile; made window adjustable and added drag N drop to move items between the lists.
Deposit window; made window adjustable and added drag N drop to move items between the lists.
For MGA’s, added ability, when handling email, to find the MGA based upon the sub producer’s e-mail address.
For MGA’s made many updates to the Broker window.
Corrected drag-N-drop depot window so that when dropping multiple documents user only needs to answer prompts once for all documents.
Corrected Chart Code Lookup for General Ledger to allow jumping to the Chart Code by typing the number. Click a line in the list and type the chart code.
History lists now have adjustable columns and rows and the window is resizable. Also the complete description will display when hovering over the field with the mouse.
Backup of InStar data implemented so user can setup backup in Main Setup and have a redundant InStar backup in addition to their regular backups. This is automatically setup on our cloud servers.
Client window, brief History list displayed in small form on Producer/CSR Tab so user can easily see recent transactions on an account when accessing the Client Window.
Recent Clients list kept and accessed under the “Recent” button on the client window. Each time a client is accessed the client is moved to the top of the list.
Broker/Producer window adding information in preparation for an auto pay in one form or another.
Enhanced email added lookup for MGA sub-producer when replying to email.
Added the ability to add a Miscellaneous Policy as a Section to a commercial policy.
On Auto ID Cards, made sure we had a field for NAIC Code of the Carrier.
Client Notes, corrected the list not sorting with the column header buttons
Flo-Trax Global window corrected column header to show “Description” and also added a tool tip to make the description appear under the mouse when long description is not all visible.
InStar Ver 2022.10.15 (InStar)
EMail
Ver 2022.10.12
EDI
Ver 2022.10.15
EDI Update
Ver 2022.07.04
Aged Receivables List; Correction for opening Client with a Right Click to open Top Note correctly, was losing the Top Note text.
Top Note; Added an option to change the color to distinguish between information and crucial information.
FloTrax updated to use new Email Inbox, for attaching email from the Inbox, for those agencies that cannot use the old email any longer. This also adds the ability to Reply/Forward the email for the Trax Step in addition to just filing the email.
FloTrax; refined the ability to add lines and to also reorder lines with a Right Click on the Step Number or Drag N Drop the step number.
FloTrax; Corrected tabbing to add a new line to keep the added line at the bottom of the Steps. User can change the order if needed.
FloTrax; added a button in place of the invisible button for Opening other windows on the Client.
Line of Business (LOB) Setup window limited to 10 characters for the LOB Code. If you had LOB Codes of more than 10 characters they would not show on most policies. Shorten the LOB Code to the FIRST 10 characters and everything will display correctly.
Cash Receipts; corrected loop when entering a date for the receipt that is in a closed accounting period.
Updated Enhanced Email Inbox so when viewing an Email it is marked as Read in Outlook
Updated Enhanced Email Inbox to allow for saving of Delivery Receipts to the Sent Email so once filed it updates the Letter/Email Status in InStar to show the Delivery Status.
Cert of Lia, version 2010 and 2014, Fixed wrapping of long text in the Other section to work same as on 2016 ver. If long desc type in the first field.
Corrected losing Cert Holder Email Contact on Renew/Modify
Updated Cert of Lia Renew/Modify to update attached EDocs with EDocs on a Master Cert. If you must replace attached EDocs at renewal use a Master Cert.
Type Ahead for email addresses on letters implemented. First time used builds list of email addresses which are kept until InStar is closed. **Right click added for popup menu to allow for rebuilding the contact list or adding a contact typed manually. Removed automatic rebuild of contact list
Correction on check printing to use 15 lines before suppressing printing even if the Agency has 0 in the number of lines to suppress in Main Setup.
Updated the letter window so the subject and other fields will allow scrolling across when the text length exceeds a single line field.
Added Security Setting so specified users may unlock Certs and Evidences as needed when duplicating the form serves no purpose. This to alleviate the issue created on large accounts where parties scrutinize and request changes to Certs so as to keep the number of certs minimized on a specific job etc. This will include a revision number that will not increment during the 4 day grace to edit the cert but will be incremented when a user, with authority, will open the cert for a change.
On Letter/Email Attachment window Rt Click allows open of User Stored Folders in EDocs and Drag n Drop from Windows including multiple file drop. Also can delete multiple selected attachments.
Added User Preferences for Enhanced Email Inbox to Open Client when filing email and to Not Move Email to Read Items Folder. Options; Always, Prompt, Never.
Sending/Receiving will by Default, store the original received or sent Outlook email and open in the Outlook Email window. This feature may be turned off in Main Setup. See this link for a complete description.
Corrected Email attachments all having the same attachment name.
For Client Window Contacts; Added Rt Click to Copy Phone or Email for pasting. Very helpful if using a phone from your computer can copy/paste the number.
Some email servers were not returning proper value when filing email causing a delay. This has been corrected. (Email.lbr)
On Checks; Corrected horizontal extending to be OFF so fields that are too long will be cut off rather than running over another field.
Update for data sync to backup to a backup folder named for the Date/Time of the backup to keep main folder clean and identify Date/Time of backup.
Update to email View window to allow for Copying of text for paste elsewhere.
Some Policy Dec windows would only take a number for premiums. Updated so the user can enter INCL for an item that is included but for which the premium is unknown.
Flo-Trax; Setup main use windows to expand for readability and corrected ability to re-order Flo-Trax Templates
E-Forms integration to deliver updated forms. Currently all claims forms others to follow.
Basic Texting via agencies existing email. This has limitations due to using the agency email however has no cost to the agency. See more click here
Notes window setup to allow for copy of text from a note. Note remains unable to be altered once saved.
Windows Follow-Up, Notes, Letter List, T-Hist made expandable for better readability.
Update user password encryption in preparation to move to newer versions of Omnis.
User login window; Added “roll over” with mouse to view entered password
Producer List; Will only display active producers unless check box selected to include inactive.
InStar Ver 2022.03.15 Available for Download
Correction for being able to Delete Multiple Certificates from the Cert List
EDIUpdate Ver 2022.01.20 Available for Download
Added Prompt for the user when checking updates if their version is current.
InStar Ver 2021.12.17 Available for Download
Stop crash during baby data check on first user to start for the day, some older data files were crashing due to restriction on data tables checked on split data sets.
InStar Ver 2021.12.13
Correction for 1 more issue found on the Producer Ledger.
InStar Ver 2021.12.11
Added import for list of Additional Interests on ACORD 125 and 126. List must be in CSV (comma separated values) and must have columns ordered to match the column order in the import list window.
Correction for Claims forms finding an incorrect client in some circumstances.
Correction for Producer ledger not properly reversing out Producer ledger items when a check is deleted.
Added button to EDI About window to give support personnel better access for special passwords so support people don’t need to change shortcuts to access needed utilities.
Email Ver 2021.11.11 Available for Download
Fix for Outlook automation having another error in the old email inbox dropping additional addresses under reply all. We will not be doing any further work on this old Email Inbox. All enhancements will be done to the new Email Inbox under the EDI Enhanced menu.
InStar Ver 2021.11.04
Correction for download looking for old Expedite Downloader in some circumstances and receiving error or missing “end if”.
When adding an agency and duplicating setting from another agency the parameters were messed up in a calling method causing all Chart of Account Codes for Agency 0 to be deleted. We corrected.
Further refinements to data handling to better lock and release records.
Changed the several windows opened from the Client Window to open in the center of the Client Window for less confusion when more than 1 Client Window is open.
For updated functions in InStar we added code to add a “Help” button to the upper right hand corner of any window for which we provide a Help Page. User can see this on the Cert of Insurance Window.
The About InStar window (Menu Help >> About InStar) now has a link to this List of Updates Page. Corrected links to create email to IUG or EDI to properly fill an email
Added automatic shutdown of InStar at 12:0 1 AM to prevent users from leaving InStar open accidently. User may adjust the the time of the shutdown in Main Setup under the System Info tab. This enhancement must be managed if over night operations are conducted like automated download so as not to interfere with said operations.
Data handling has been greatly improved so that timers will not interfere with data handling. Previously when a record was locked for editing if a timer went off it may return a false positive causing the system to unlock the record before the user is finished editing the record.
Added the ability to use the Omnis Data Bridge and connect directly to the data file(s) via the server IP address rather than using Windows file sharing. This gives Omnis/InStar greater control in handling file locking and release of locks. There is no additional cost for this and it takes about 30 minutes to setup. All new installations are using the ODB (Omnis Data Bridge) If you wish this setup just give support a Email Support@EDIConcepts.net or Call 877-277-6918.
Client window was made to open in the top left corner of the screen to give more room for other windows and multiple client windows.
Client window is now resizable using the square in the upper RH corner square or a double click on the title bar. Nice for those clients with lots of policies.
Global/Policy/Certificate Additional Interest/Holder; Enterable list added for contacts on the Additional Interests that flow from the global/master list to the policy and down to the cert. User may add Contact and Email for the AI/Holder at any level. Holder email address is required for direct mailing of certificates and this function is being added to other ACORD forms also.
Certificates of Liability (ACORD 25s)
Button added to certificate of liability for immediate email of certificate to the holder email address with cc to the primary contact on the client account. User can elect to create a new email or respond to an email in the Outlook inbox.
Buttons for Next and Previous added to the cert of liability to allow the user to quickly move through the certs without exit back to the list window. Right click on the button for list of Certs to quickly move to another Cert.
Added ability to attach eDocs to the Cert by clicking the header button and dragging 1 or more eDocs to the Cert
Incorporated the ACORD 25s 2016/03 version so it is no longer necessary to use the print button under the EDI Enhanced Menu, just use the Print button on the Cert or just click the Email Button and save a lot of steps.
Modified the Master Cert Description to not be editable and added a Cert Description field. Intent is to keep the Master Description the same but allow the user to add any description they need for a specific cert when they Dup a Master. If you MUST edit the master description just check in the “Master” ck box, make your edit and uncheck the “Master” ck box then save.
Certificate of Liability List Window
Added column for the new Certificate Description next to the Master Desc. Intent is to allow proper use of the master by keeping the Master Description the same so when clicking the Master Button all Masters are put at the top of all the Certificates DUPLICATED from said Master and allow more ease in renewing blocks of certificates created from a specific Master.
Window was made expandable with a click on the upper RH corner square or just a double click on the title bar.
Column width is now adjustable.
2021.04.12 InStar
Fix for split data files returning a false positive for duplicate slots.
Added Comment/Reason to journal entry list to more easily see the reason for the entry. Also made the window expandable and the row height in the list adjustable.
2021.03.26 InStar and Earlier
Printer empty situation causing InStar crash corrected to warn user and allow the user to select a printer when InStar does not “see” a printer to which to send the print job.
Email attachments all getting same name corrected
Corrected Attachment List window on Email to be sent; Delete button turning inactive after 1st deletion and right click pop up menu not working corrected.
Fix for letter window being slow to open with many letters on the account by truly limiting the letter records fetched to only the number of months specified. IF a user selects all letters on a large account the fetch of data was enhanced but thousands of records still take time to fetch.
Client window now has a field to store the client web site and both the Name and Web Site labels will perform a lookup or open the web site.
The New Email Inbox (under EDI Enhanced menu); When an email is filed, will load the client to which filed, to the client list so opening a client window (F2 ) and clicking the List Button will show and allow quick access to the client record.
Added fix for forwarding email in Letters causing the font to disappear and creating a situation in which the letter body did not have a font size causing the typed letters to simply type over each other.
User download updates setting moved from User Preferences window to User Setup. Only individuals authorized by management will download updates. Current setting are retained but can be changed under User Setup >> Security, global options.
