Jenzabar SONIS 2025 Release Index, June 2025

The newly created Balances Report, located in the FInancials hub, provides clear information about positive and negative account balances. Concurrently, some of these details were removed from the Receivables Report, returning it to its original function.

This new page allows schools to set their cost of attendance based on the program and the award year. This data is used in Gainful Employment calculations.

The Default Publishing Options page allows your school to control which student biographic details are published by default when a new student is added to the system. Publishing can be updated by administrators from the Biographic page or by students from the Update Bio page on the Student portal.

The Eligibility Report displays students' eligibility for sports and other events based on their weighted grade average based on the scores they've received in their current courses. The report can only be used by schools that use the SONIS gradebook. Schools that use time period grades can also mark students ineligible on the report based on attendance.

A new utility allows administrators to import and export Gainful Employment program data from and to the National Student Clearinghouse.

Schools can now replace the standard SONIS CAPTCHA with a Google reCAPTCHA. The reCAPTCHA is more modern and follows accessibility guidelines.

Anticipated charges allow students to preview their bill before it has been fully processed. These charges should be converted to actual charges or disappear if the course registration or other billing item is canceled. However, sometimes they are orphaned, leading to confusion. The Prebill Delete utility allows administrators with the appropriate User Security access to delete orphaned anticipated charges.

Previously, the Additional Fees Filter utility created a new listing for every combination of filters, leading to very long, unwieldy lists in some cases. Going forward, when the Select All option is active for any of the filters, only one entry that summarizes all of those selections will be displayed on the page. The table itself has not changed.

The Completion % column on the Applications in Progress tab has been simplified to calculate completion percentage based on the number of checklist items completed only. The label has been updated to read Checklist Completion %.

A tool was added that allows administrators to update the number of Admissions Hub records shown on each page. A search bar was also added to make it faster to locate specific records.

The SONIS API has been updated to allow the transfer of an additional piece of data. The update_address function now includes an argument for the e_mail2 field in addition to the e_mail field that was already included.

Applicant reports were updated to only included users with an Applicant (AP) status or an Online Applicant (OA) status.

A GradPlus option has been added to the Award Type drop-down menu in the Award Codes utility. Associating federal Graduate Plus awards with this type allows students to change the amount they wish to accept through the Student portal.

Administrations can now withdraw students based on their inclusion in a list using the Bulk Withdraw Enhanced utility.

The Learning Management System Setup page now includes an option to include the course ID in the Sections file instead of the course section ID, which is typically used. Schools that choose this option should only import the Sections file as part of the zip file to avoid errors.

Canvas-only option added to Learning Management Setup that allows schools to decide whether withdrawn students are moved or simply marked as inactive.

You can now require users to solve a CAPTCHA during the CE Registration account create process. This prevents bots and other automated programs from creating multiple accounts as a form of spam.

Previously, schools could customize the email that is sent when a user successfully completes the CE registration process. However, they were unable to customize the email that is sent when a user creates a CE registration account. This email has been added to the CE Registration Email Setup utility and can now be customized.

Checklist items can now be marked as "official." This designation can help differentiate between official and unofficial transcript and can also be used for other requirements that may be tentatively completed before being completed in a more official capacity.

Students can now be restricted from registering for a course unless they are enrolled in a selected major or minor. This restriction functions the same as the preexisting restrictions based on program and level. A new User Security privilege allows administrators to bypass the restriction when registering students.

The XML file exported from Jenzabar SONIS to the Canadian Revenue Agency was being flagged as invalid because it didn't include the proper login information. Additional fields have been added to ensure that the field is accepted without the need for manual editing.

A new NSC Degree Level field was added to the Degrees table setup page. This level is needed to ensure that accurate information is sent to the National Student Clearinghouse when using their DegreeVerify program.

Previously, only image files could be uploaded to the SONIS document management system. Now, all file types and extensions are allowed.

Schools using the Enrollment Import utility for historical enrollment can now include the grade that the students received in each course. This field is optional.

When a course evaluation requirement has not been fulfilled, students are unable to view their schedule and grades through the Student portal. Previously, evaluation requirements could only be overridden from each individual students' Courses record. Now, the Evaluation Assignments utility offers a way to remove the requirement from all students in the course.

Fields that hold Gainful Employment data have been added to the setup pages in the Programs table. These attributes are required for federal reporting.

Administrators can now use the Anticipated Graduation Date field to search for students to process in the Graduation Processing utility. The design of the page was also updated to make it more intuitive.

In addition the the previous filters that were already included, the Holds by Semester utility now includes a Department filter that can be used to further narrow down the group of students affected by the hold.

A tool was added that allows administrators to update the number of records shown on each page of Import Functions when importing Online Applications. A search bar was also added to this section to make it faster to locate specific records.

The 1098-T built process now includes date fields that control which charges are included. You can use them to include charges from prior years that should be used in the 1098-T calculations.

Previously, the 1098-T process printed and exported the current Employer Identification Number on all 1098-Ts when there was a change. Now it will store old EINs and continue to display and export them on 1098-Ts from prior years when that number was still active. Administrators can also make changes to an individual user's EIN as part of the 1098-T Edit process.

The Department of Education has updated the format of the ISIR import file. Jenzabar SONIS has been updated to recognize the new layout.

Clients who use Jotform can now set up a timed task and notification assignment that will automatically import files from Jotform to SONIS.

The LMS Transfer table has been renamed to better conform with the fact that it's used by other third party integrations and not just learning management systems. The table is now called the File Transfer table.

Schools that use the single sign-on feature can now hide the username and password fields from the various login pages to force users to log in via single sign-on.

The Nelnet export can now export more detailed balance data. This change to the export is optional and turned on through Nelnet settings.

Emails sent by the Notification Assignments utility will now be included each each user's Email History record.

The "Are you a citizen?" question in the SONIS Online Application was previously formatted as a dropdown menu that defaulted to Yes. Many applicants skipped the question and left the default yes answer even if they were not citizens. To remedy this issue, the field can now be made required. When the field is required, it defaults to a blank value. The Citizen on OA Creation setting has been removed since this change makes it unnecessary.

Additional fields in the SONIS Online Application can now be set as required. These fields include the degree, degree to and from dates, and the graduation month and year on the Education history page and the name, primary number, relationship, street address, city, state, and zip code fields on the Emergency Contacts page.

The PIN utility now allows administrators to create and reset PINs for CE students, constituents, online applicants, and withdrawn students in addition to the module statuses that were already included.

Some clients found it difficult to void imported awards when more than one award had the same award ID and name. To remedy this, the page now displays the transaction code and date as well.

To avoid potential errors, Jenzabar SONIS now uses the data from award import files with no additional calculations. Additionally, these pages were updated with data tables to make the import process easier and more intuitive.

The PowerFAIDS Cloud Disbursements utility was updated to provide improved data display and to reflect column headers and additional data included in the import file.

The PowerFAIDS XML Export can now include fields from the Divisions table. These fields can be added through the Custom Fields section of the XML Setup process.

Since a student's Housing Status is no longer included on the ISIR, housing data now needs to be exported to Regent Award from SONIS. This is accomplished through user-defined fields that are edited from the Regent Award Exports page and then included in the export file.

The default option is now to allow disabled award codes to be selected when building a report with an Award Codes filter. A checkbox is included that removes all disabled award codes from the report build.

A Memo field has been added to the School Info page. This was primarily added as a way for schools to store their old Tax ID for auditing purposes when they've been assigned a new one. However, the field can be used for other purposes as needed.

The notifier that can be sent out when a new module status is given to a user has some additional fields for added clarity. The email now displays each user's middle name, address, email, phone number, cell number, department, division, and cohort.

In addition to the previously available portal, you can now require two-factor authentication for users accessing the Applicant Portal and the SONIS Online Application. The setup process has not changed.

Schools can now include transfer credits in the calculations used to determine eligibility in the Year End Promotion utility.

Schools that use the single sign-on feature can now hide the username and password fields from the various login pages to force users to log in via single sign-on.

You can now require applicants to use two-factor authentication when accessing the Applicant portal for added security.

You can now require users to solve a CAPTCHA during the CE Registration account create process. This prevents bots and other automated programs from creating multiple accounts as a form of spam.

Previously, schools could customize the email that is sent when a user successfully completes the CE registration process. However, they were unable to customize the email that is sent when a user creates a CE registration account. This email has been added to the CE Registration Email Setup utility and can now be customized.

Schools can now choose the default page for advisors to land on once they choose an advisee. Additionally, the left-nav bug that caused the wrong page to show highlighted has been corrected.

With a Portal Menu Utility option activated, faculty can import numeric grades and have the SONIS system calculate each student's letter grade based on previously entered grade data.

You can now require applicants to use two-factor authentication when accessing their existing application to make updates.

Students can now request that books be ordered for them through the Books page of the Student portal. These requests are then available to view by administrators.

Students can now edit the amount field for Graduate Plus loans. This allows this to accept a lower amount than the maximum offered.

Students can now view their course schedule on a calendar in addition to the existing list option.