March 2026 Updates

New features and improvements released across PEARS modules in March 2026.

This page summarizes new features and improvements released across PEARS in March 2026.

Module Builder Enhancements

The Module Builder received significant improvements to the build workflow:

• Four-phase workflow — The module creation process now follows Setup, Build, Test, and Publish phases. The new Test phase includes a preview link and a pre-publish checklist.

• Menu Location — A new dropdown on the Setup page lets builders choose which navigation menu (Plan, Engage, Analyze, Reflect) the module appears under.

• Keyboard shortcuts — The Build phase supports Cmd/Ctrl + Z (undo), Cmd/Ctrl + R (redo), arrow keys to reorder elements, and Cmd/Ctrl + Backspace to delete.

• Click-to-add elements — Hover over an element in the sidebar and click the + button as an alternative to drag-and-drop.

• Rich text instructional text — The Paragraph element now uses a rich text editor with bold, italic, underline, and link formatting.

• Auto-generated identifiers — Typing a Display Label auto-generates the element identifier (slug).

• Modal-based section configuration — Sections are now configured in a focused modal dialog instead of inline editing.

• Configurable upload field — The General Info uploads field now supports custom labels, help text, and required validation.

• Form Version on detail view — Organization administrators can see which form version was used to create each response record.

See Create a Custom Module for the updated workflow.

Importer Improvements

• Partnership import — A new import type for creating partnership records in bulk, including action plan links and collaborators. See Import Partnerships.

• Program Activity import — Program activity import now generates a dynamic template with a Key Mapping sheet. See Import Program Activities.

• Dynamic import templates — All import types now generate templates with a Key Mapping sheet listing all valid values for lookup fields, scoped to your organization.

• Error workbooks — Import validation errors are now returned in a downloadable error workbook with hyperlinked cell references.

Action Plan Reports

• Outputs dashboard improvements — The APR Outputs page now shows program activity hours, and module card titles link directly to the filtered module list view.

• Direct Contacts card — Organizations using action plans for direct contacts now see a Direct Contacts card in the Outputs dashboard.

Export Updates

• Summary Export — Now includes Action Plan ID and Action Plan name columns across module worksheets.

• User Export — Now includes a Viewable Users column.

• "Not linked to an Action Plan" label — Records not linked to an action plan now display "Not linked to an Action Plan" in exports instead of a blank or internal value.

Other Improvements

• Default collaborator access — When adding a collaborator, the Access dropdown now defaults to "View & Edit" instead of "View Only."

• Search text persistence — Search text in module list views is preserved when you navigate away and return.

• QER auto-calculate volunteer hours — The Auto-Calculate button on quarterly effort records now also populates volunteer hours from program activities.

• Action plan copy for admins — Organization administrators and data managers can now copy any individual-level action plan from a past reporting period to the current year.

• Professional development read-only occurrences — Event occurrences in past reporting periods are now read-only and cannot be edited or removed.

• CRM site search and filter — The CRM search bar now searches site names, and a new Site filter is available.

• CRM delete permission — The Delete button on CRM contacts is only visible to users with delete permission.

• Data manager survey type change — Data managers can now change a program survey's Type after responses have been collected.

• Notification email reply-to — All PEARS notification emails (collaborator, action plan, registration, etc.) now set the reply-to address to the person who performed the action.

• Profile photo — Users can upload a profile photo on their user profile page.

• Copy form validation — Copy dialogs now enforce the same maximum character length as the original record's name field.