Customer Support -- What's New

Broker's Ally v7 What's New

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This page displays an up-to-date listing of changes to our customer support web. We'll also place notices here regarding product updates, scheduled releases, or problems and work-arounds that may affect all customers. When bugs reported by our customers get fixed, we'll place a notice here, along with an estimate of when the fix will be shipped.

Version #: Please select the number below to see the product enhancements for that version

7.15	7.12	7.08	7.04
7.14	7.11	7.07	7.03
7.13	7.10	7.06	7.02
	7.09	7.05	7.01

7.15 - Released 6/25/00
New Feature - Broker's Ally v5 direct data conversion - This conversion program will import
ba5 data directly into BA7. File, Database Operations, Import.
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7.14 - Released 5/15/00
Test Version - This version was distributed for BA5 to BA7 conversion test.
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7.13 - Released 4/28/00
New Feature - Quick Web Access to BrokersAlly.com - New Menu Item - Powerful new feature has been added to the Main Menu. A new menu item has been added to BA 7.13. The menu item is "Web" which gives users single click access to the BrokersAlly.com home page, and the BrokersAlly.com eSupport page. This feature supports Netscape and Internet Explorer browsers.
Portfolio Setup Enhancement - Multiplier functionality change. When changing a multiplier from the Portfolio, Setup, Edit Type menu, BA will change all associated files, i.e. Book, Security Type database files to correctly reflect the changes in the client book file.
Import/Export - Using the import / export in update format occasionally duplicated positions in the clients book page. This has been corrected to match the positions, and only import changes.
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7.12 - Released 4/10/00
Portfolio Setup Enhancement - Multiplier functionality change. When changing a multiplier from the Portfolio, Setup, Edit Type menu, BA will change all associated files, ie Book, Security Type database files to correctly reflect the changes in the client book file.
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7.11 - Released 3/27/00
New Report Added. Contact/Activities/Notes Report has been added to BA 7.11. This report will provide all contact information, pending activities, and a page of notes for the contact.
Find by Name Enhancement. Increased the speed on the "Find by Last Name" mechanism. We have found a average of 25% increase in speed when finding records by last name.
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7.10 - Released 2/21/00
Contact List Correction - Occasionally when editing a contact record then moving to another area of the application (i.e activities calendar or letter writer) and clicking on a new name in the Contact List, the user would receive an error in BAWIN.EXE. This error has been corrected.
Broker's Ally Date Fields - When adding a date with the year, 00, Broker's Ally removed the date field due to possible year 2000 constraints. This function has been reinstated. Now when adding a date with the 00 in the year field (i.e. 2/2/00) BA will default the date as 2/2/2000.
Broker's Ally Birthday Field - This date field will default to 19 when only a year is entered into the system. i.e. When adding a date 10/10/65, the date will be entered into the system
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7.09 - Released 12/20/99
Speed Enhancements - Additional development has been done to help increase the database access speed. Finding record in larger database are now approximately 25% faster.
Broker's Ally Reports - All BA Portfolio reports have been reformatted to properly display the Date fields. Occasionally, some of these date fields were cut off due to a font size limitation in the field.
Maintenance Rebuild Function - The Rebuild function has been modified to delete duplicate security types if found.
Letter Writer

- "System is low on resources" message has been corrected. This message was occasionally displayed.
- Letter Writer File Location Preference - The file location in User Preferences would not store correctly when selecting the "Root" directory. Only a folder/directory location would be valid. This has been corrected.

OCBC - BA now includes the latest version of OCBC and the Microsoft Standard MDAC loading utility. MDAC (Microsoft Data Access Control) is now included on the installation CD, and is called directly from the BA installation scripts
Import - BA 7.0x Standard version. Invalid Page Fault. Enhancements made to the import dialog to alleviate the Invalid Page Fault error when pressing the start button.

7.08 - Released 9/9/99
Microsoft Word v8 (Office 97) - Mail Merge Wizard. The Microsoft Word v8 Mail Merge Wizard has been added to this build. The Mail Merge Wizard will be installed automatically into the MS Word application when found on the computer. Please Note - Due to many similarities in Word 8 (Office 97) and Word 9 (Office 2000), the Broker’s Ally Mail Merge Wizard is installed as a menu item in Word 9. Unfortunately, due to the differences in Database configurations, the Word 9 Mail Merge Wizard will not access the BA database. This will be in a future enhancement of Broker’s Ally. A delivery date has not been established
Configuration File Enhancements - Timeout. In some network installation instances, the network would timeout while Broker’s Ally is searching or sorting the database. A "timeout" feature has been added to the BAWIN7.INI file to override the network settings. This will enable network users who may be experiencing GPF’s due to a delay in the network response to complete searches and sorts where the network may have bottle neck delays. This feature is now being install automatically in all installations of BA7.

Auto Shut Down. This feature will enable Broker’s Ally to be shut down at a designated
time. This will enable Network Administrators to close the Broker’s Ally application at a designated
time, in order to complete maintenance on the network server. Feature also found in the Edit,
User Preferences.

Auto Rebuild. This feature enables the Broker’s Ally application to rebuild the database automatically
prior to completing corporate download. Feature only available for Crowell Weedon at this time.
Feature also found in the Edit, User Preferences.

Letter Writer

Fonts. In some instances, when changing fonts within a letter in the BA Letter Writer, the fonts
would not display or print correctly. This has been corrected

Printing. Printing letters when running Microsoft NT 4.0 operating systems occasionally caused
an invalid page fault in Broker’s Ally. This has been corrected

Import. Invalid Page Fault. Enhancements made to the import dialog to alleviate the Invalid Page Fault
error when pressing the start button.

7.07 Released 7/13/99
Export - · Corrected error when changing drive under the "Export To" selection. Previously caused BA to shut down.
Remembered Responses - Deleting remembered responses - previous versions could only delete the first one on the list in the Remembered Response Window
Label Reports - All Laser Label reports have been moved down on the page. Top/Bottom Margin has been increased by .03 inches. This should correct the label printing for the new Avery Label Formats.
Installation Program - Autorun mechanism has been added to the CD. This will "execute" the setup program automatically when the CD is inserted into the CD ROM drive. This will help minimize user intervention and confusion to which drive it their CD ROM drive. Please Note: Windows 95, 98 and NT will execute the setup program automatically, but may take a up to a minute for some computer systems to execute the setup program.

7.06 Released 4/5/99
Docking Station Routine - Gold Network Level. The gold network docking station routine is now active. Previously the docking station routine was grayed out for the Network Gold Level but active for the Network Portfolio Level
Find Contact Screen - Find Contact "close" delay. When displaying multiple Find Contact Windows (MDI Windows) users
sometimes experienced a delay when closing one of the MDI windows. This delay has been corrected.

7.05 Released 3/5/99
Crowell Weedon - Executable modifications for Crowell Weedon Download Option.
Fulfillment Requests - Modified Extract File for J.P. Morgan Fullfillment requests.

7.04 Released 2/5/99
Schedule Activity and Mark Notes - User Lists. Broker's Ally now restricts, using the BA security setup, the user lists according to privileges on the Schedule Activity and the Mark Notes screens.
Calculator and Word Icons - Launching Applications. Broker's Ally now launches the calculator and Microsoft Word applications on Windows NT correctly. Previously caused an error in BA.
Calculator User Preference - Storing Path. The path is now stored correctly when selecting the calculator tool from User Preferences.
Import / Export - Fullfillment Import and Export. Broker's Ally allows the export and import of fulfillment requests and responses into an ASCII file. Designed for corporate fullfillment houses which could be customized for the specific corporation.
Report - Activities Detail Report. A new report displaying activities with more detailed contact information is now available.
Printing

Letter Writer. The letter writer now allows printing of more than one page. Previously printed only first page of a letter.
Envelopes. Printing of envelopes is now enabled.
Tray Selection. The ability to select a paper tray for printing of envelopes is now enabled.

Lists - Creating Lists. Broker's Ally no longer creates an error when creating a list which returns no contacts in it.

7.03 Released 1/18/99
Import/Export

Broker's Ally v7 Data. The import/export for Broker's Ally version 7.x to Broker's Ally 7.x is now active in the import and export dialog window.
Broker's Ally v6 Data. The import/export for Broker's Ally version 6 to Broker's Ally 7.x has been added to the import dialog window. Users can now import directly from a BA6 database into BA7.

Please Note: There is no export from BA7 back to BA6

File Select dialog - Select File Dialog. The file select dialog will now "show files of type" correctly when selecting different types, (ie *.txt and *.*) This functions was disabled in previous version of BA7.
Docking Station Option - Network Gold. The docking station routine has now been activated in the Network Gold level. Previously this function was only for Network Portfolio level.
Distribution Media - CD-ROM Version. Broker's Ally version 7.03 is now offered on CD-ROM.

7.02 Released 12/15/98
Downloads - Automated Downloads. Broker's Ally now allows the download feature to be run automatically without user intervention using a command line parameter.
Installation - Copying BA6 Data. The setup program now copies BA6 data to the BA7 directory. This function was disabled in the BA 7.01 release of the application.
Book Page - Book Page View. Corrected the book page screen painting. Previously, when scrolling between accounts, when the book page of a contact record is being view, the painting of the contacts book page occasionally displayed "multiple" lines.

7.01 Released 11/13/98
Find Contact List - Last Name First. The Find Contact Results List now displays in either last name first or first name first order. This is selectable on the User Preferences window.
Search By Typing - The Find Contact Results List now moves the highlight to the first line that matches any characters typed while the window has the focus.
ASCII Import - The ASCII import feature is now active.
Contact Records

Notes Page. Spell Checker is now active in the Contacts Notes Page
Remembered Responses. Previously users could only enter 1 remembered response when the responses started with the same letter or number. This has been corrected.

Reports

The PVAL Summary Report. This report no longer has the title "SECONDNAME" under the Pie Chart
Address Phone Report. The Address Phone Report now prints the address correctly on the report

Letter Writer

Printing Marked Letters. Printing a letter from the marked letter area no longer results in an error.
Mail Merge. When a merge field has no data, the line is removed from the document when printed.
User Preferences. Previously when changing the Letters directory in the user preferences, found under the Edit menu, this caused a GPF. This has been corrected.

Lists

Creating Lists. The members of the list are now sorted appropriately using the condition specified.
Using Lists. When using a list with a report, the members of the list will now be printed in the sort order specified when the list was created.

Posting Transaction Window - Price Field. The open price field now allows more digits.

Tools - New Tools. The Bond Calculator and the Financial Planner are now Tools menu options. These menu
options will launch the specified tool if it has been installed in the default directory.