No new or enhanced features in this release.

This release includes the following new features and functionality.

• Password can now be enforced for shared devices.

  You can now specify that the use of a device password is to be enforced on client devices that are shared by multiple users.

• PIN can now be enforced for Vocera Smartbadge users.

  VMP Administrator configuration option enables you to specify that Smartbadge users must supply a PIN to use their device.

  Note: This requires Vocera Voice Server 5.3.3 and Vocera Smartbadge version 5.0.3.45 or later.

• You can now reset the PIN for a user's device.

  This enables users who have forgotten their PIN to access their client devices. Users that have their PIN reset are automatically logged out.

• Presence and availability now displayed for VMP Web Console message recipients.

  When you are sending a message to an individual user from the VMP Web Console, a green dot next to the user's name indicates that the user is available, and an orange dot indicates that the user is in Do Not Disturb mode. If the user is unavailable, the user's name is highlighted in red and a banner is displayed on the screen.

• In VMP Web Console, search text can now be enclosed in double quote characters when searching for template names.

  This enables you to search for template names using multiple words or for text fragments that contain a space.

• You can now store Vocera Secure Texting contacts on the VMP Server.

  You can now specify whether to store VST contacts on the VMP Server or the Vocera Voice Server. This enables you to use VST with VMP even if you have not installed a Vocera Voice Server.

• APNS and VoIP authentication now uses an authorization key instead of authorization certificates.

  The VMP Server now stores an APN authorization key in its database to authenticate its connection to the Apple Push Notification Service. This replaces the VCS APNS and VCS APNS VOIP certificates. Authorization no longer needs to be updated annually.

• Users can now be forced to accept or decline urgent calls.

  A configuration option in the VMP Administrator now enables you to disallow auto-answering of urgent calls. When this option is set, users must answer or decline any urgent call that they receive.

  Note: This requires Vocera Voice Server version 5.3.3.

• Patient context information now available in reports.

  You can now include patient information in the Conversations and Text Messages Status - Detailed reports if it is available.

This release includes the following new features and functionality.

• Windows Server 2019 now supported.

  The VMP Server is now supported on systems that are using Windows Server 2019.

• Messaging templates can now be copied.

  You can now create a messaging template by copying an existing template and editing it. This makes it easier for you to create several similar messaging templates.

• Conversations in VMP Web Console now display participant availability.

  When you are viewing a conversation in the VMP Web Console, the photo or initials of each participant in the conversation are enclosed in a colored circle that indicates the participant's availability.

• Schedule names can now be searched.

  When you are viewing a list of on-call schedules in the VMP Web Console, you can now search for schedule names that match your specified text. This makes it easier to locate a specific schedule when you have a large number of them.

• You can now specify on-call or not on-call notifications.

  When you create an On-Call Distribution List, you can now specify whether a user is to be notified when the user goes on-call, is no longer on-call, or both.

• Short messages from SOAP now supported in wireless gateways.

  When you create a wireless gateway, you can now specify that short messages are to be sent if they have been made available via SOAP.

• On-call status now appears with user name when creating schedules.

  When you are creating a schedule for an On-Call Distribution List, the on-call status of each user in the list is provided below the user's name.

• You now receive an email notification if your SSL certificate is about to expire.

  If the SSL certificate that your VMP Server uses is set to expire in 30 days, you now receive an email notification of this upcoming expiration.

• In the VMP Web Console, message subject now set to patient name if no subject provided.

  If you have included patient information in a message conversation, and you have not provided a message subject, the VMP Web Console uses the patient name as the message subject.

• You can now drag and drop into schedules in Month view in the VMP Web Console.

  When you are creating a new schedule in the VMP Web Console, you can now use drag and drop to schedule shifts in the Month view as well as in the Day or Week view. This makes it easier to set schedules quickly.

• In VMP Web Console, job title now specified for care team member if no role assigned.

  When viewing a patient care team in the VMP Web Console, if no role has been specified for a care team member, the team member's job title is displayed.

• Message status change notification delivery has been optimized.

  VMP now uses multiple threads to send message status change notifications. This reduces congestion if other servers are operating slowly.

• Quick messages now available.

  In the VMP Administrator, you can now define quick messages, such as "I am with a patient", that can be immediately added to message conversations. Within the VMP Web Console, you can use administrator-defined quick messages in conversations or create your own.

• You can now specify favorite templates.

  In the VMP Administrator, any template that you frequently use can now be set to be a favorite. Favorite templates appear at the top of the list of templates available to you.

• Shifts can now be color-coded in schedules in VMP Web Console.

  When you are creating a schedule in the VMP Web Console, and you are adding a shift to the schedule, you can specify the color in which the shift is to be displayed. This is useful if you have a number of roles that need to be filled for each shift, as you can use a different color to represent each role.

• Site selections in VMP Web Console are now persistent.

  When you are logged into the VMP Web Console, if you select one or more sites to display, your selection is preserved when you log out and log back in again.

• Default subject line removed from VMI messages.

  Messages sent using the Vocera Messaging Interface (VMI) no longer have the default subject line "VMI Message".

• Configuration options now control whether pictures can be attached to messages.

  New configuration options in the VMP Administrator now specify whether images from files or from the device client's camera can be attached to messages.

• A configuration option now controls whether messages sent from smartphones and web users to badges are to be enunciated.

  You can now specify whether messages sent from Vocera Collaboration Suite, the Vocera Smartbadge, or the VMP Web Console are to be enunciated on badges. This enables you to ensure that patient health information cannot be heard.

• System notifications now provided for new messages in VMP Web Console.

  When you are logged into the VMP Web Console, you will see a system notification whenever you receive a new message if you are using a browser that supports this.

• User presence status now configurable for users that have set call forwarding.

  A new configuration option in the VMP Administrator enables you to specify whether a user's presence is shown as Available when the user has set call forwarding, regardless of whether the user is logged in or not.

  The configuration option is named "Consider Call Forwarding in User Presence Status", and it is located in the System Options -> Vocera Voice section of the VMP Administrator configuration options. This option can have the following settings:

  • Yes (default): Show the user's presence as Available if call forwarding is configured, regardless of whether the user is logged in or not.
  • No: Show the user's presence as Not Available if call forwarding is configured and the user is not logged in.

• TLS 1.2 now fully supported.

  TLS 1.2 is now supported for both inbound and outbound connections.

This release includes the following new features and functionality.

• Default system settings are now used for security protocols.

  Because VMP uses a version of .NET Framework that is later than 4.7, it uses the system security protocols by default.

This release includes the following new features and functionality.

• Multiple Engage servers now supported.

  You can now integrate your VMP Server with multiple Engage servers. This enables you to obtain patient information from multiple sites.

• .NET Framework 4.7.1 now required.

  VMP 5.3 now requires .NET Framework 4.7.1. This enables support for the MultiSubnetFailover feature in SQL AlwaysOn Availability Groups.

• MS SQL Server 2017 is now compatible with VMP.

  For a complete list of the versions of MS SQL Server that are supported, see the Vocera Messaging Platform Server Sizing Matrix.

• GE MUSE configuration mapping fields increased from 40 to 100.

  The GE MUSE plugin now supports up to 100 configuration mappings instead of the previous 40.

• Server version and build number now displayed in VMP Web Console.

  The footer of the VMP Web Console now displays the server version and build number in addition to the copyright notice. This enables you to determine what version of VMP you are using.

• Favorites now always appear in searches, regardless of site selection.

  If you have selected one or more sites to be displayed, and you type a search string when selecting recipients for a message, favorites that match the search text are now always displayed, regardless of what site they belong to. Your favorites are always available to receive messages.

• Calls and voice mail messages can now be saved on the server for a specified number of days.

  A configuration option in the VMP Administrator now enables you to specify the number of days that calls and voice mail messages from client devices are to be saved on the VMP Server.

• Persistent call logs now provided.

  When Vocera Collaboration Suite users log off and log back on, the log of their previous calls is now preserved. In previous releases, only call logs for the current user session were available.

• System-wide notification options now available.

  In the VMP Administrator, you can now define notification options that enable you to specify the vibration and ringtone to use when a device receives a secure message or call, or is notified of a message response, change in On-Call status, or the arrival of new Content. You can specify that all devices or shared devices are to be forced to use these server-specified notification options.

• Users can now view schedules for on-call groups that they do not belong to.

  A new user right, "View all schedules", grants permission to view schedules created for an on-call distribution list even if a user is not a member of the list.

• On-call scheduling validation now includes days that do not have shifts created.

  When you create a schedule in the VMP Web Console and validate it, the validation logic now warns you if it finds days that have no shifts created. This reminds you to create and populate new shifts when necessary.

• Historical message data is now archived.

  Messages that are older than the retention period specified for client devices are now archived into a different location in the database. This improves server performance when there is a lot of message traffic. Reports can access data in both the active location and the archive location.

• New pager-like ringtones available.

  New ringtones are now available that sound more like pagers and can be clearly heard in a noisy environment. The VMP Server can now be configured to set the minimum volume level for ringtones for urgent messages.

  Important: If you are using the VCS app on Android devices, you must upgrade to version 3.4 of VCS to be able to use the new ringtones. Older versions of VCS on Android do not support these new ringtones.

• Minimum volume level for ringtones for urgent messages can be configured.

  When you specify the tone for ringtones for urgent messages in VCS clients, you can now also specify the minimum volume level for these ringtones.

• VMP licenses no longer cumulative.

  When you receive a new VMP license from Vocera, it replaces your old license. When you upgrade, your old license remains in place in the database.

• You can configure whether to send messages from VCS and the VMP Web Console to badges.

  A new configuration option in the VMP Administrator enables you to specify whether messages generated from the Vocera Collaboration Suite and the VMP Web Console are to be sent to Vocera badges. All other types of messages are always sent to Vocera badges.

• Communication with Android devices now uses FCM.

  The VMP Server now uses Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) instead of Google Cloud Messaging (GCM) to communicate with Android devices.

• You can now define fields to be included in message templates.

  When you create or edit a message template, you can now define one or more fields that are to be included in messages that are generated from this template. You can specify that one or more of these fields are required.

No important changes in this release.

• HTTP/2 protocol now used for APNS delivery.

  Apple Push Notification Service delivery now uses the HTTP/2 protocol instead of a binary protocol. Delivery is to api.push.apple.com using port 443.

No important changes in this release.

No important changes in this release.

• SSL certificate and device re-registration may be required.

  VCS version 3.4 for iOS requires an SSL certificate to be installed on your VMP Server. If you do not currently have an SSL certificate on your server, you must:

  • Install an SSL certificate on your VMP Server.
  • Restart the Vocera Data Exchange service on the computer on which the VMP Server is running.
  • Require each VCS user to re-register the application. To re-register the application, device users must log out and log back in again, unless your environment uses registration keys to register users. If you use registration keys, you must send a new registration key by email to re-register each user.

The following list contains fixes and improvements made to version 5.3.3.2343 of Vocera Messaging Platform.

• CMSG-12224 Throughput of APNS messages has been increased.

• CMSG-12226 VMP service no longer crashes due to unhandled APNS exception with Curl for APNS.

The following list contains fixes and improvements made to version 5.3.3.2340 of Vocera Messaging Platform.

• CMSG-10616 When you are logged into the VMP Web Console and you create a notification message to send to an Escalation Distribution List, the Attach Media button is now disabled.

The following list contains fixes and improvements made to version 5.3.2 of Vocera Messaging Platform.

• CMSG-6167 If a device has sent a message to a badge that includes multiple choice responses, and the response returned from the badge is 15 characters long, the returned response is considered a match to one of the specified responses if the returned response matches the first 15 characters of the specified response.

• CMSG-9216, CMSG-9327 In previous versions of VMP, users were sometimes unable to log into the VMP Web Console due to a multi-threading issue. This problem has now been resolved.

• CMSG-9241 In previous versions of VMP, synchronization with Microsoft Exchange 2010 sometimes resulted in errors. This problem has been fixed.

• CMSG-9719 You can now generate a “Text Messages Status – Detailed” report that includes Vocera Voice Server group messages.

• CMSG-9762 If you are generating a printable copy of a schedule, and the schedule contains shifts for one user that do not overlap with shifts from other users, users are now no longer omitted from the printed schedule.

• CMSG-10010 When a user logs into the VMP Server using the Vocera Smartbadge, the count of licenses in use is now properly incremented.

• CMSG-10023 If a user is a member of more than one group, and one group has permission to edit the On-Call status for a distribution list and another does not, the On-Call Distribution List is now always displayed in the Vocera Collaboration Suite client.

• CMSG-10059 In some environments, when you edited the information of existing contacts and then synchronized, the updated contact information did not appear on VCS clients. This problem has been fixed.

• CMSG-10094 In previous versions of VMP, supplying a wrongly-formatted URL for the VMP Web Console caused it to stop working properly. This problem has been fixed.

• CMSG-10127 Contact photos of size 128x128 or smaller now displayed properly in Vocera Collaboration Suite clients. When necessary, photos are scaled to fill the space provided.

• CMSG-10136 When you import contacts into VMP, contact photos are now always successfully displayed in the VMP Web Console.

• CMSG-10148, CMSG-10150 The VMP Administrator now displays the correct site information for a VCS user after the user logs out or when the user is new and logs in for the first time.

• CMSG-10268 When the VMP Server has been configured to allow Active Directory users to log in, to enable automatic login using Active authentication, and to allow the current logged domain user to log in, attempting to log into the VMP Web Console using the current domain user credentials now works properly.

The following list contains fixes and improvements made to version 5.3.1 of Vocera Messaging Platform.

• CMSG-9302 Cache-related document streaming queries that are sent through the Vocera Data Exchange Service no longer cause a gradual increase in the amount of memory used.

• CMSG-9477 When you upgrade from an older version of VMP to VMP 5.3.x, existing VMP messages are archived for faster access. This archival process no longer causes delays in sending messages to the Vocera Voice Server.

• CMSG-9713 In the VMP Administrator, if you create a "Text Messages Status - Detailed" report and select "Text Messages and Statuses" as the report type, an error no longer appears if the recipient to be displayed in the report is a distribution list.

• CMSG-9723 Some messages sent through the Vocera Voice Server were occasionally appearing on some badges but not others. This problem has been fixed.

• CMSG-9724 This is because VMP now uses the system security defaults.

• CMSG-9820 After the connection to the SQL Server is lost, the server no longer reaches the SQL connection limit, and VMP Servers in a high-availability environment now behave properly.

The following list contains fixes and improvements made to version 5.3.0 of Vocera Messaging Platform.

• CMSG-7792 If you are creating a new message in the VMP Web Console, and your message is long enough to cause the scroll bar to appear, typing or highlighting in the message is no longer slow.

• CMSG-8552 If you create an on-call distribution list based on an Active Directory security group, and a user from that security group is removed, the schedule for that user is now removed from the distribution list.

• CMSG-8603 If a user logs out from the VMP Web Console, the user's availability is now correctly set to "Not Available".

• CMSG-8621 If your Active Directory implementation does not include the InetOrgPerson class, synchronization of VMP with Active Directory now works properly.

• CMSG-8861 If the "Limit EMail Notifications" configuration option in the VMP Enterprise Manager is set to "Warnings and Errors", and a user logs out of the VMP Web Console, an error message is no longer sent to the email address specified in the "Email Address(es) for Notifications" configuration option.

• CMSG-9094 If you have enabled the Enhanced Voice Server NIO Tomcat feature in your environment, you no longer experience delays in message delivery if the Tomcat connection is unstable.

• APNS certificate auto-download now available.

  Auto-download of the APNS security certificates is now available. This is because this version of VMP natively supports TLS 1.2 on outbound connections.