A Letter From the ICE Product Manager
With the addition of Tri Delta, we now have eight clients live with ICE! Since September 2009, we have made over 40 improvements to the ICE product, and we continue to address issues every day. You may not have even realized some of the new improvements, which include numerous bug fixes as well as performance improvements throughout the system.
I know that many of you have put in enhancement requests and I can’t thank you enough for your feedback. It is important to remember that ICE is a product and not custom software. While we would love to make every enhancement requested, we simply cannot. We must balance the enhancement requests in such a way that ICE remains customizable and upgradable, so it works for everyone, now and in the future.
In terms of deciding which enhancement requests to make, we prioritize and categorize them based on the number of organizations who request a given enhancement and the time/complexity to implement it. Some enhancement requests may seem simple, but actually can take months to design, code, and test.
A perfect example of this is the requests for forms enhancements. Many of you have asked for the ability to create forms on the fly, archive forms, and have more control over forms that have been published or need to be published. There is not a simple change that can be made to accomplish this type of functionality.
However, I am excited to announce that we are re-designing the interface for forms processing. When completed, ICE will have the following new features:
Form Templates
We are splitting the form design and the actual form instance into two different screens. You will now be able to create a template and then create multiple instances (with multiple key values) off of that template.
Form Instances
Form instances can be cloned, scheduled, and even be set to on-demand. They can even be archived! This will allow you to clone an instance (say for a school year), change the key value, and re-publish. At the same time, you may archive the old instance so that it no longer shows in ICE. Best of all, if you create an instance by mistake, you can delete it without having to call for help.
On Demand Forms
As mentioned above, this update will allow you to create form instances that are generated on-demand rather than scheduled.
While we are still working through the exact features and functionality of our new forms processing, I expect it to debut this summer. I am very excited about this change to ICE as it covers many of the feature requests that we have had from you. Keep up the great feedback!
Doug, The ICE Product Manager