The documentation for Vocera Messaging Platform version 5.3.0 is available online:

• Vocera Messaging Platform Administration Guide
• Vocera Messaging Platform Web Console User Guide
• Vocera Messaging Platform API Guide
• Vocera Messaging Platform Server Sizing Matrix

From these online help locations, you can download PDF versions of the VMP 5.3.0 documentation.

If you are working with the Vocera Voice Server, version 4.4.3 or later is required. If your organization is using Vocera Voice Server departments and synchronizing them with VMP groups, Vocera Voice Server 5.2 or later must be installed.

This section lists important feature changes in version 5.3.0 of Vocera Messaging Platform.

• 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.

This section summarizes the new features in this release.

• 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.

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

• CMSG-7792 - Scroll bar in new messages in VMP Web Console no longer causes a slow response.

  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 - On-call distribution list based on Active Directory security group now updated properly.

  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 - Availability now displayed correctly for user logged out from VMP Web Console.

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

• CMSG-8621 - Synchronization with Active Directory now works properly.

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

• CMSG-8861 - Error notification not incorrectly sent when user logs off from VMP Web Console.

  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 - Message delivery no longer delayed if Tomcat used with Vocera Voice Server.

  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.

This section lists known issues and limitations in version 5.3.0 of Vocera Messaging Platform.

• CMSG-6167 - Badges unable to respond to long message responses.

  If you send a message to a badge with multiple choice responses, and the responses are longer than 15 characters, the selected response is not sent properly to the sender of the message.

• CMSG-9302 - Document streaming queries sent to server cause gradual memory requirement increase.

  Cache-related document streaming queries that are sent through the Vocera Data Exchange Service cause a gradual increase in the amount of memory used.

• CMSG-9477 - Database archival after upgrade to VMP 5.3.x may cause message send delays.

  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 may cause delays in sending messages to the Vocera Voice Server.