2022 BOS Upgrades and Changes

We are making many upgrades and changes in the BOS this year to improve the user experience. Please check back often as we will be rolling out new features and changes throughout the year. If you have any trouble with the functionality of the BOS after the upgrades, we highly recommend clearing your cache. More information on how to do so is in the related article at the bottom of this page. 

March 9

• NCOA Updates
  • The notification for NCOA flags has been streamlined to a pop-up over the current child address. The code is in the red header bar, and we have added a "?" icon in the header to direct you to our support articles regarding NCOA to help find the information needed to troubleshoot more quickly and easily. 
• Newsletter Icon
  • We have added a newsletter icon to the BOS dashboard so that you can quickly and easily access our newsletters to stay up to date on all things DPIL.

April 11 (for all countries except UK, which rolled out May 9)

• Possible duplicate notification for online registrations
  • When entering a manual registration (paper form), if the child is a possible duplicate (determined by an exact match of full name and date of birth), you are provided with information for the affiliate that the possible duplicate may be with. That information will now be provided for pending online registrations as well. 
• Child Search Enhancements
  • You will be able to add up to 5 additional child search fields. For example, you can look up children by parent name, city/state/zip, etc., and will be able to view or download the search results. You will also be able to save the additional search fields selected for the duration of your BOS session (you will need to re-select them the next time you log in).
• Parent Portal Additions
  • Parents will be able to do more in the parent portal, including view their Child(ren)'s ID number, get notification if an affiliate is closed or inactive, stop book delivery, and contact their affiliate. 
• Enhanced Affiliate Profile Page in BOS
  • We will improve the headers and layout of the affiliate enhanced profile within the BOS. Some sections headers will be renamed for clarity such as "Brochure/Return Address" which will be called "Book Label Address". We will move the Contacts area to display with the other Administrative info and change the header to "Administrative Contacts". Any section with publicly displayed information will have a notation of that in the section header. Lastly, we will add quick links at the top of the profile so that you can quickly go to other areas such as BOS Users, Child List, and Coverage area. We will also add active children and status at a glance. 
• Group Coordinator Search
  • For affiliates who manage multiple affiliates that are grouped together within the BOS, we have made the search function unified.  You will be able to do a child search across all affiliates rather than toggling between and searching in each database. There will be a column header that will designate which affiliate the child is assigned to. 
• Child Profile Enhancements
  • You can now see additional information including the number of months enrolled, number of months until graduation, projected graduation date, the last 90 days of book mailed date for that child's age group (this information is not specific to the child and only applicable if the child was active at the time of the monthly process; if they were pending for any reason, no book was sent), and recent changes to the child's account.

May 25

• Child Addition Enhancements
  • When entering children manually into the BOS, you will now be able to add another child to the same parent without re-entering the parent’s information, saving time! After entering a child, you will be prompted to select whether you wish to add another child for the same parent which will automatically enter the parent data in the next record or add a new child which will open a completely blank form.
• Child Edit Enhancements (not available in the UK)
  • When editing the address for an existing child in your program, you will now see a message if the new address is outside your coverage area and is not covered by another affiliate. In this case, if you change the address and save the record, you will keep the child in your database and send books to the new address outside your coverage area. In order to stop sending books to the child, you must delete the record. Parents will not be notified if their child is deleted from your program, so we recommend contacting them to let them know the program is not available at their new address.
• Enhanced Child List
  • The new data made available in the child record in April (months enrolled, expected graduation, etc) is now available in the downloadable child list report. You can also select the fields you wish to export in your child list, customizing the report. Simply drag and drop the fields you wish to export. You can also mark the “Remember Selection” box to create a default report setting. This change will also help ensure you are only downloading necessary data, to uphold data protection. 
• Books Mailed Date in the Parent Portal
  • The date a book is mailed now appears in the Parent Portal to help keep parents informed. The date will appear with the book image. If the book has not yet shipped, “To Be Announced” will appear until it ships. This date reflects the date books left our possession and were sent to the USPS. Because our books are sent via bulk mail, delivery times vary and are dependent upon local mail carriers. If parents do not receive their books within a reasonable time from the ship date, we recommend they contact their local post office. If you need to troubleshoot books that are seemingly not being delivered, please see the Missed Books section of the Operations Manual.
• Coverage Alert Notification for Manual Entries (not available in the UK)
  • In May, we introduced an alert that notified a user when they were manually entering a new child if the address entered was outside the coverage area set in the BOS. If you save the record, you will add the child in your database and send books to the entered address outside your coverage area. 
    
    Note that this alert also displays if you are updating an existing child's record with a new address outside your coverage area. In that case, you can save the record to keep the child in your database and send books to them at the address outside your coverage area, or you can delete the child's record. Parents will not be notified if their child is deleted from your program, so we recommend contacting them to let them know the program is not available at their new address.
    
    If you feel you are receiving this alert in error, we recommend checking your coverage areas to ensure you all have combinations entered that you wish to serve. 

June 22

• New Calendar
  • We've upgraded the calendar view found on the BOS dashboard. This calendar contains monthly processing dates, trainings and workshops, BOS closures, and other important dates. 
• Redesigned Emails
  • We have redesigned the emails sent to parents related to the BOS which inform them of enrollment status changes such as enrollment approval, transfer approval, and password recovery. We have also made changes to the content to help parents/guardians better understand what to expect such as when their first book may arrive or when to expect books at a new address updated through the parent portal. For those who have selected Spanish as their preferred language for BOS email communications, we have let them know that their local affiliate may not have a Spanish-speaking representative.

October 12 

• Donation Alert Emails
  • You can designate the recipients to receive an email notification when a donation is made to your program through The Dollywood Foundation at imaginationlibary.com (unless you have opted out of receiving donations this way). The public contact listed on your affiliate profile will be the default recipient unless the recipient fields are updated in the donation section on the Enhanced Affiliate Profile. Only Main Coordinators can edit the Enhanced Affiliate Profile. 
• Parent Portal Edits
  • In addition to editing the address, parents will also be able to edit their child's name. This will save you time in making these changes on behalf of the parent, and will also make it easier and faster for the parent. 

November 16

• Total Children Served Report
  • A new report shows the count of total children served for the time period selected on the report page. This report is generated by counting the unique child ID #s for the time period. An excel document is available for download with the results for the query. Each report you run will be saved so that you can download it again without re-running the query. This feature is only available to Main Coordinators and Group Coordinators. 
• Instagram Link
  • A field to include your Instagram URL on your Enhanced Affiliate profile is available
• Interested Parents and Children Report
  • If you would like to see how many parents (and the total children they represent) have asked to be notified when a program is available in a certain area, you may do so with a new IPC report. The report displays the totals for those wishing to be notified as well as the number who have been notified once a program becomes available. What triggers the notification to parents is the addition of their coverage area to an affiliate's profile or when an affiliate becomes operational who has their coverage area in their profile. As always, please contact your Regional Director if you are interested in adding any additional coverage areas not listed in your Memorandum of Agreement. (TPR (Total Pre Registered) was the former data point for families who had been asked to be alerted when a program is available so that they may register.)
• Removal of Secondary Address
  • A secondary address option has been available on child profiles since the BOS launched, however, that field is not used in our monthly processing and has caused considerable confusion as to its purpose. Due to this, the field is no longer visible on the child profile. If you entered a secondary address field for a child previously, it will still be available on the child list report download.