Centercode wishes you season's greetings! In the latest patch we've introduced several updates to user account info collection and verification, as well as several improvements to the Feedback Simple List. In addition, throughout the month, we've continually deployed several bug fixes which we've also listed below.

new features 

✨ New Features ✨

All New Presentation Mode!

New and improved functionality to help you show the results of your test! Presentation Mode for Project Dashboards has been completely revamped, providing a slick new experience for Teams presenting their Project data to stakeholders.

First-Class User Account Verification!

Get up to date account information before you begin a new test! A new Notice Type was created for Content Notices that will prompt users for updates to selected Account data (Email, Address, and/or Phone #). Address data and geographic reporting were updated to work with these new configurations.

New Feedback Velocity Signal!

We've introduced a new data point dubbed Feedback Velocity. Based on a seven day calculation, this metric indicates which Feedback is getting the most attention from your testers and the biggest boost in popularity. If you're looking to put out product fires, Velocity shows you where the heat is building!

improvements

📈  Improvements 📈 

Enhanced Address Collection!

We've doubled the power of our API-driven Address functionality -- The User Account pages now allows for the collection of two distinct forms of address! Use this to collect a combination of standard office, home, shipping, or another address.

Improved Feedback Simple List!

Get the Feedback information you need faster and easier than ever before! The Feedback Simple List view was dramatically enhanced with a better look and feel, more useful details, and inclusion of the new Feedback Velocity indicator.

fixes  

🐞  Bug Fixes 🐞 

Centercode Mobile App

• A refactor was performed on the Mobile Application to enhance back-end security and the User session experience.
• Status Intent colors were adjusted to have a more appealing color palate (outlined within this ticket). 

Localization & Strings

• Corrected an issue where Strings would display incorrectly within customer sites.

UI & Usability

• Corrected an issue where the UI was displaying a legacy feature unintended for current platform editions.
• Community managers are once again able to remove User Profiles and Test Platforms without assuming the user. 

Legacy Features

• Corrected an issue where Tasks (a sunset feature for current versions) was displaying erroneously within Project Tools. 

A fresh round of updates and improvements are on the way! In the latest patch we've
made numerous updates related to Features and their functionality within Feedback Forms and Test Planning. In addition, throughout the month, we've continually deployed several bug fixes which we've also listed below.

improvements

📈  Improvements 📈 

Update Features within Expired Phases!

Make corrections or clarifications to features in already finished phases! This change allows you to update Feature information for those kept within otherwise-uneditable Phases. In addition, you can also clear their associated Completions to effectively reset the activity record. 

Conditionals on Feature Elements!

Further customization and specialization of your Feedback Forms! Feature Elements in Feedback Forms can now be selected as the parent of Conditional Elements. Note that since Features aren't cloned during Project Cloning, if you're using Conditionals off of Feature Elements, you'll need to update your Feedback Forms in new projects. 

fixes  

🐞  Bug Fixes 🐞 

Dashboards & Reports

• Certain Sub-panels on Satisfaction and Engagement Over Time were adjusted to correctly include the new Regression Features. 

Centercode Mobile App

• Security update for Android

User Experience & Interface

• New Community Homepage Survey list now takes into account expired or nearing expiration states.
• Users no longer automatically enter their last project if they're an Applicant in that project. Additionally, Projects where a user is only an Applicant can no longer be selected as Default. 
• Adjustments were made to the Location selection on Account Settings under various non-US country selections. 
• Continued smaller functionality and UI improvements to C17 for both Desktop and Mobile. 

Delta Release Upgrade

• Migration scripts were updated to account for Projects without Project Managers when building Homepage Content from Homepage Introduction messaging. 
• Project Cloning for our Static Templates will now properly include New User and Regression Phase options.
• Feedback Types without a Feature element will no longer allow a roundabout method of submitting active Features when users are currently blocked due to Product Verification.

Miscellaneous

• Projects without Feedback Intents configured to Delta standards now utilize proper activity flow.
•  Feature engagement no longer presents a 404 with API endpoints. 

A fresh round of haunting updates and improvements are on the way! In the latest patch we've added more clear role descriptors within Teams and added some more automation opportunities to Macros. In addition, throughout the month, we've continually deployed several bug fixes which we've also listed below.

new features 

✨  New Features ✨ 

Introducing Two Powerful New Feature Types

We've heard your feedback and created two new types of Features to solve for specific but common testing scenarios. You can select these Feature types within the Create a Feature steps or directly within their respective subheadings:

New User Features
This new Feature type ensures your testers complete the necessary activities and review Features associated with "initialization" or "set up" before they can dig into the other features of your product. Once completed, New User Features give way to the current Phase's Feature Activities, dropping testers right back into the normal flow of your project.

Regression Features 
This new Feature type allows you to continually test/re-test chosen Features across multiple Engagement Phases. Ideal for iterative versioning (such as driver or firmware updates), Regression Features encourage persistent re-testing and accept (and report!) unique satisfaction scores for each Phase in which they're included (determined via checkbox within each Engagement Phase).

improvements 

📈  Improvements 📈

Updated Role Management Interface

The Roles UI now shows the associated Teams more effectively since the Delta UI no longer includes right-hand menus

Macros now include the Features and Blocking Status!

You can now use Macros to Mass Feedback Management to update the Feature field and Blocking Status via macro.

fixes 

🐞 Bug Fixes 🐞 

User Interface & User Experience

• New Team Keys have been implemented on the various Roles pages.
• Tooltips were removed from the Health Over Time dashboard chart.
• Weights used in Feedback Scoring will now round down to the nearest whole integer to fix scoring inaccuracies.
• Project level Opt-out is once again available in the interface to Users with access (available under the Project Menu).
• Additional padding adjustments made to the Page Title bar.
• The Visual Themes configuration page now displays Hash Tag icons (#) associated with color-picker fields and now strips hash tags from pasted hex codes.
• Continued visual and functional tuning for both desktop and mobile.

Dashboards

• Adjustments were made to properly separate Phase and Overall Dashboard data under specific scoring conditions.
• PDF for Project Dashboards was adjusted to prevent Custom CSS from impacting its display.
• Work was done to align Internal Team access properly to the new Dashboard and Feedback Views.
• Spacing adjusted on Date Range UI for Dashboard Filtering.

Mobile App

• A fix was added to prevent issues with Mobile App login using SSO.

A fresh round of updates and improvements are on the way! In the latest patch we've addressed some key mobile application performance issues, improved our Feedback process, and pushed several UX updates. 

improvements  

📈  Improvements 📈 

"Resolved" Feedback replaces "Archived"

In the spirit of its purpose, "Archived" feedback is now identified as "Resolved" within the platform. This aligns with the goal of marking feedback as no longer needing attention or focus (aka Resolved).

Feedback Status Intent determines Resolved state

Feedback Status Intents now determine if Feedback is Open (able to be accessed, commented on, etc.) or Resolved. During this update, Archived Statuses without a designated Intent will be migrated to the "Resolved - Other" Feedback Status Intent.

Updated Feedback "Next Steps" Submission Flow

We've implemented an updated flow for feedback submission - after submitting feedback (or predictive matching), submitters are prompted to review their feedback and/or submit additional feedback if they have any. 

fixes 

🐞  Bug Fixes 🐞 

User Interface & User Experience

• Old Community Activity page from C16 is now linked again (Platform Activity) from the Subscription Management page.
• Avatar border for Feedback Comment posting UI now properly indicates Moderator accounts.
• Submitting Feedback or Feature Satisfaction now sends users to a consistent follow-up page leading to continued activity engagement.
• Multiple Teams displayed on the User Card will no longer overflow out of the Team combo box interface.
• Product Receipt emails are now sent once every three days instead of every other day.
• Many adjustments to the look-and feel of the User and Feedback management areas, as well as the Feedback Simple View.

Data Engine

• The Feature and Feature Phase data elements will now correctly convert to the associated data when used as a Dynamic Tag

Product Receipt

• Product Receipt feature can now only be enabled for Participant Team Types.

Centercode Mobile App

• An External Authentication (Single Sign-On) issue with the mobile application was fixed.
• Using iPhone camera while attaching a file to a file attachment element will no longer cause the app to crash.

Platform Interface / UX

• User Card with multiple Teams displayed will no longer overflow out of the interface.
• Project Homepage once again has a toggle option to reset any hidden Content/Release items previously hidden by the User.
• User Admin Teams can once again be adjusted via User Summary pages.

Just In! The Centercode Mobile App is available on app stores! In addition, we've deployed new platform fixes which include: Calendar Widgets, Community Homepage Improvements, and more below! 

✨  New Features ✨ 

Check out the Centercode Mobile App!

The Centercode Mobile App is officially available on app stores! For C17 sites, you can find an "Access via Mobile" link in your Community Menu.

improvements  

📈  Improvements 📈 

Community Homepage Improvements!

We now display available Surveys, Profiles, and Platforms on the Community Homepage. Plus, the platform now prompts users to update their information if the data is becoming dated.

New Calendar Widget!

We have updated the Calendar selector we use throughout our system to a much more modern, sleek, and clean interface - removing the need for a separate icon as well!

Onboarding Email Previews!

Email Previews (the ones with false links for testing purposes) can now be sent for Onboarding email templates.

fixes  

🐞  Bug Fixes 🐞 

Product Verification

• Product Verification will now work as expected with Projects that do not yet have a Product Type selected.

Test Planning

• Test Plan Imports with back-to-back Phase dates (within 1 day of each other) will no longer break due to Project timezone settings.

User Experience & Interface

• Project opportunities will now properly show up on the Community homepage even for users not in any active Projects within matching Department.
• When updating from Beta to Delta, the default Feedback Type icons now better match the intent of existing Feedback Types.
• Additional Tooltips added to some of the new C17 expand/collapse section icons.
• Continued internal refinement of C17 for desktop and our mobile application.
• Significant interface tweaks, including reorganizing the Menu Bar, have been implemented based on early-access feedback.
• The Project Overview page received color, button, and link adjustments for more clarity and usability.
• Incomplete / in-progress File Uploads will present a browser warning when users attempt to leave the page.
• Failure to access your last-entered project (automatically on log-in) will now present a clear message.

Mobile App

• Multiple refinements and fixes were applied to the Mobile App for an updated experience. It will be resubmitted to the App stores.

We're heating things up this August! We've added a new Product Verification Feature and improvement based on your GoEarly Feedback! More to come here! In addition, throughout the month, we've continuously deployed several bug fixes which we've also listed below.

 new features  

✨ New Features ✨  

Product Verification!

Admins can now require product receipt confirmation (based on Product Type in Project Settings) from participants (and can be further enhanced by static or conditional macros). When enabled, Participants will be prevented from submitting Feedback or completing Activities until receipt is confirmed.

improvements  

📈  Improvements 📈 

Accessibility!

Significantly improved level A and AA accessibility coverage that was implemented in this release, with efforts aimed primarily on the end-user experience. More to come here!

Reworked Activity Flow!

Based on your GoEarly feedback, we've make major improvements to how activities are completed by participants including Activity availability, the Satisfaction Rating > Feedback flow, and more.

Avatar Icons!

Empty Avatar images are now auto-generated based on Full Name (or Username if this project setting is used instead).

fixes  

🐞  Bug Fixes 🐞 

User Experience & Interface

• Projects can once again be moved between Department buckets when editing Project Basic Settings.
• User Avatar uploads were adjusted to handle oversized files and repeated uploads more gracefully.
• Login and External Authentication copy and page layout was updated to improve look, feel, and functionality.
• The Features and Phases shown within admin-level Planning have undergone a visual and functional overhaul.
• Some missing Community-level navigation trails were added.
• Icons across the system have been replaced with more refined versions to match our global modernization efforts!
• MANY bug fixes and ideas have been addressed including those sourced directly from our ongoing Delta testing via GoEarly.
• New Feedback and Star Rating icons have been implemented on Project Homepage.
• Browse icons on Project Homepage added for Feedback types.
• Planning page now uses clearer Dates for Phases (no times, midnight based on project timezone, interface improvements).

Dashboards

• PDF print of Top Feedback Dashboard will no longer stretch smaller site header icons. 
• An obscure Status issue that could occur under very specific conditions with a Feedback Type was fixed.
• New Feature Data criteria will now convert via Dynamic Tags properly.

announcements 

🎉 Centercode's 20th Anniversary 🎉 

As of May 2021, Centercode has existed for 20 years. This continues to be a journey we’re incredibly proud of, highlighted by the hundreds of amazing companies and thousands of incredible people and products that we’ve had the opportunity to work with, and driven by the fierce passion we maintain to this day.

Along with this release we've produced the new ebook, The Definitive Guide to Delta Testing which you can download here. This is a comprehensive resource intended to not only explain delta testing to the uninitiated, but also to serve as a ”buy-in guide” to be shared within your organization.

delta  improvements new features fixes mobile 

Delta Testing: The Answer to Alpha, Beta, Field, and Everything

By literally any measure, this is our largest release to date. It spans the entire platform, and operates as a cohesive means to deliver on our vision.

New User Interface

For the first time since the inception of our platform, we’ve refreshed our entire user interface. For admins, this means easier access to virtually all functionality. For testers, it means a more focused and accessible experience that's aligned with our new mobile app. For everyone, it means a fresh look and feel (which will likely take platform veterans a bit of time to get used to!).

Delta Planning and Dynamic Surveys

The heart of the new release is a centralized suite of tools to plan and manage a delta test, including first-class incorporation of features, phases, and activities. Delta tests may be planned within the platform or imported, and easily adjusted at any time.

Introducing: Ted Adams

An intelligent virtual agent of Centercode who manages tester engagement on your behalf. Ted continuously learns from your project, testers, and feedback. Ted takes a huge load off your back by communicating the most important information at the right moment, through the most ideal channels.

Furthermore, Ted continuously provides test managers with insightful updates in classic Scrum format: What just happened? What's happening next? What are the blockers?

Dynamic Dashboards

Centercode now automatically generates beautiful data-rich dashboards that summarize your project, phases, features, and much more. The dashboards are highly interactive, may be filtered in real-time, and allow for both direct presentation and sharing. No more decks.

Centercode Mobile App

A native Centercode app allows your testers to engage with all aspects of your test, including providing and collaborating on feedback directly from their iOS or Android devices.

The Everything

Beyond these key features, literally hundreds of other small enhancements cover virtually every corner of the platform. This truly is a monumental release, and one we couldn't be more excited to share with you.

For the sixth installment on the C16 Release Track, we’re providing an amazing new tool for any customer dedicated to supporting agile software or firmware development in their program. In addition, we’re providing a bit more organization to your Community and Project Reporting, and replacing the existing in-site chat support tool with… a different in-site chat support tool! 🎉🥳🎉

Click here to download a detailed PDF guide for this release.

 new features 

✨ New Features ✨  

Automated Releases via API

Does your software or firmware development process follow an intricate and highly-automated series of automated steps or look like an OK GO music video? What about your Centercode testing - Does pushing your pre-release build to Centercode fit within that automation? Probably not as well as well as you’d like - until now!

Once configured, posting to this new Release Automation endpoint lets you:

• Automate the creation of your Release within your Centercode Project
• Set the components of your Release (e.g. Title, Body, Availability, etc.)
• Attach files from your Centercode FTP 
• Link to externally-available files

To implement your own Release Automation using Enhanced Integrations and Centercode’s new Release API, check out a comprehensive Implementing Release Automation via API support article and our fully-detailed API & Technical documentation.

improvements

📈  Improvements 📈 

Setting Content & Release Defaults

We’ve implemented additional new features to Release and Content Type groupings in order to simultaneously provide admins with additional group controls and make the new Release API functionality seamless and truly first-class.

Single Active Release

Single Active Release prevents tester confusion by limiting access to the most current Release by automatically Archiving all other Releases within that Type when a new Release is posted. 

Single Notice

Single Notice ensures that only the most recent Release of that Release Type can be set as a Notice. If you want to preserve access to previous Releases but ensure that only the newest one pops up for accounts with access, you’ll want to check this box.

Type-wide Team Access Defaults

Team Access set at the Content Type or Release Type level will automatically impose those access settings for any new Content or Release within that Type. Set the Team Access at the Type level and you’ll never have to worry about the resources being shown to the wrong teams by default.

Archive Functionality for Reporting

We’ve introduced the Archive to tons of features across our platform, from Surveys and Content to Onboarding Opportunities and whole Projects. One place we haven’t implemented the Archive was in Reporting. So, to provide administrators with the ability to better disable and hide unused Reports without losing them completely, we’ve developed an Archive function for your Community and Project Reports.

CC Support: Out/In with the Old/New

For many months, Centercode has dedicated resources to enabling new administrative and organizational tools across all our functional departments. From Marketing to Sales to Post-Sales Service Delivery, our new infrastructure has touched every member of our team. Included in this tooling is a new back-end for our in-site chat support functions. 

Updated Knowledge Base

If you frequent our Knowledge Base at https://help.centercode.com, you’ve probably already seen that we’ve made some major updates.

In-Site Chat-Support Back-End

While consolidating and updating our internal tooling, we’ve also brought in-site chat under the single unified umbrella. The Chat Support tool we were previously using has been replaced with one that’s connected to the new Knowledge Base as well as our Credit Service ticketing system and CRM.

fixes  

🐞  Bug Fixes 🐞 

The 16-6 release includes a small handful of bug fixes that align with the delivery of this release, but did you know we’ve deployed more than forty patches since C16-5?! That a loooot of fixing and improving, wouldn’t you agree? Instead of listing a bajillion fixes in this document, the full list of patch notes and deployment dates for every patch in Centercode’s 16th version can be found in the C16 Complete Patch Notes.

For the fifth installment on the C16 Release Track, we focused on delivering highly requested feature improvements instead of completely new features. These improvements enrich the functionality already present in the platform and help administrators solve common challenges without using fragile workarounds.

📈 Improvements 📈

Easily Organize Your Choices 

It’s just like it sounds - lists of items in any Choices element can easily be sorted Alpha-numerically or set to randomize. The Choices elements’ interface has two new components which blend in seamlessly - check out the screenshots below.

Alpha-Numeric Sort is perfect for long lists of choices like product names, brands, commonly recognized features, or any other list requiring that respondents “search” for their choice in the list.  

Randomizing response options is a universal, long-accepted best practice when surveying testers as a means of eliminating “response order bias” in your results and encourage truthful responses from your testers. With this release, Centercode’s Choices elements now support randomization by way of a simple checkbox:

Important Notes:

• You should be deliberately applying a sorting method to every Choices element.
• In addition to sorting via deliberate drag-and-drop, you can use the Internal Label field, you can apply your own unique Ascending or Descending sort based on Choice Labels that are hidden from the respondent. This is easiest when adding choices en masse via copy-paste (note the pipe: Choice1|Label1).

Optional Button-Clicking for Greater Notice Flexibility

Have you ever wanted to allow the user to choose their own destination by offering multiple links within a Notice? Using Click-Through Notices was sometimes awkward because the user couldn’t proceed unless they specifically clicked Continue. By adding seemingly small functionality to Click-Through Notices, we’ve dramatically enhanced their capability. While the change might seem nuanced, the implications are wide-reaching and apply to many user stories I’ve  heard over the years. 

With the default settings (click not required), Click-Through Notices are considered “completed” as they’re viewed, meaning they can be subsequently bypassed by additional clicks. Now your Notices can look like this, and function exactly like you’d hope they would:

Customize Invites for that Personal Feel

“Hi there!” Ugh… boring, right?
Customizing Onboarding emails is an essential component of building interest in your emails - it makes them feel far more personal and “for you.” Following this best practice, you should be using Dynamic Tags to personalize your emails sent from your Centercode implementation. 

In this release, we’ve extended the ability to personalize email communication to Onboarding by building a special Dynamic Tag that lives in Onboarding Emails. If your implementation has a First Name for the intended recipient (they already have an account), the system will fill in their name. Otherwise, your fallback, or “Default Value,” takes the lead. 

Using this new tag, %%firstname|Default Value%%, you can connect a little more closely to your users in your project invites.

Opt-Outs via Aupt-Omation

A common request we’ve received for user account removal done within the Centercode platform to be flagged as an Opt-Out instead of a standard account deletion. 

Ensuring your CV environment is clear of opt-out accounts and that their data appropriately removed or marked as opted-out can be a critical distinction considering recent evolution of data privacy regulations. Keeping close track of user accounts between multiple systems (including properly flagging removals as opt-outs) is often a key component of account administration, especially in the case of communities using Single Sign-On or when incorporating marketing engagement or user research into your customer validation network.

Check the box to count these user account removals as Opt-Outs

As a bonus to treating these user removals as opt-outs, you can leverage this automation to further build your Opt-Out Dashboard! Not sure what the Opt-Out Dashboard is? Check out the documentation on Centercode.help!

Choose the Format of Report Distributions

We’ve been hearing for a while now that some customers need to omit or specifically select which files are included in your standard Report Distributions. If you’re one of these customers, then your wait is over! Whether you’re stuck behind file-size limitations of your company’s email network, or you just want to minimize any superfluous data leaving your Centercode platform, you can now specifically choose which standard file attachments are included in your automated distributions.

A subheading under Additional Options, checkboxes for distributed files default on but can be checked off at-will

Clone a Feedback Type. Yes, All of It.

This one seems like a simple improvement, and for the most part it is, but we’ve extended the capabilities of Feedback Type Cloning (creating a new Feedback Type and using an existing one as a Template) to incorporate every component of the source Template. Resolving a gap around Workflow and Advanced Destinations, this means that cloning a Feedback Type now includes:

• Basic Properties and Collaboration Settings - From the Name and Prefix to Public-by-Default settings
• The Feedback Form - Every form element and their individual settings
• Access Control - Access to collaborative discussions, administrative tools, and every element via Roles
• Workflow and Statuses - Every preconfigured step in the submission and administrative process
• Advanced Destinations - Any outbound integration connections triggered by Workflow stages
• Resources - Filters, Views, and Macros reassociated to the new Feedback Type 
• Automation and Integrations - Automation schedules and triggers, plus enhanced integration configs

Resurface the Project Introduction Massage

Many customers have indicated that their Project Introduction Messages (configured under the Project Template tool in Project Tools) hold crucial information for administrators, guiding them through major milestones in their projects or to essential tools used for managing their projects. That sounds suuuuuuper handy! It would be a shame if someone accidentally hid the Message when they actually still needed the information!

To resolve this potential challenge, we’ve added a button to the Layout Mode interface, allowing anyone with Project Tools access to re-open their Project Template Message if they’ve happened to close it.

fixes

🐞 Bug Fixes 🐞

The 16-5 release includes two specific bug fixes that align with the delivery of this release, but we’ve also thrown in four patches since C16-4 in August. That’s a patch per week, and the platform just keeps getting better and better. The list below provides customer-submitted bugs and minor feature improvements we’ve deployed since then.

Improvements / Feature Changes

• Continued UI refinements focused primarily on Filter and View pages and the Feedback interfaces.
• Scheduled Reports will no longer automatically adjust their schedules if they fail to complete within the hour they're scheduled (due to the generation queue) - they'll attempt to execute at the time you originally selected instead of when they were last successfully completed.
• Unlink functionality added for End-user Visual Editor created Links.

Filters & Views

• A momentary redirect was removed when modifying Filters or Views in Chrome browsers.
• Team-Type Filters will once again apply to User Management filtered lists.

Form Engine

• Matrix form element cells will now consistently match one another in size regardless of text length.
• Matrix form element textual column headings will now wrap and break on available word spacing.

Notices

• Content and Release Availability will now respect Time added to the Date field.
• The use-cases for Click-Through Notices are now waaaay more comprehensive than they used to be - make sure you think about how you can use the new functionality!

Reporting

• The PDF generation process was adjusted to increase resiliency and prevent nasty File Server Errors.
• Report Elements within Feedback Macro Reports can once again be modified after their initial creation.
• Building a Complete Task Report will no longer lead to an error.
• User Scores below zero are now sorted properly when viewed in User Management and Reporting.
• Scheduled Macros and Reports will now return to their originally scheduled time as opposed to auto-adjusting as processing queues stack up.
• Emailed Reports will once again include PDF and Excel files as Distributions do.
• Jira links in Reporting spreadsheets will now link off to the matching Jira ticket.
• NPS Reporting element style with "Show Details" on will once again function as expected.

User Interface

• For sites with no API Keys visible, a Javascript error was corrected on the Project Settings page.
• Distributed Values with multiple values per user allowed will now display as intended on that User's summary page.
• A visual issue affecting the header bar in archived projects (encountered after a Chrome update) was fixed. 

Onboarding

•  Referral Onboarding Source limits are now respected properly when only 1 invite remains.
• Are you actually reading these bug-fix notes? That’s awesome! Let your CSM know!

WYSIWYG

• Corrected a cache issue with the Centercode Visual Editor that could occur until browser cache was cleared or refreshed.
• The right-click menu in Admin and End-user Visual Editors are now presented appropriately to their use.

Miscellaneous / Performance

• We've improved linking to multiple files attached in Legacy Forums via BBCode.
• Tony got a new keyboard, so he types faster but with a few more errors than usual.

The C16-4 Release offers you two choices: You take the blue pill - your Centercode implementation gets updated with Matrix Elements, Stacked Rank Elements, and data engine functionality to support it. You take the red pill - well, they’re the same. It turns out the pills were Fruit Gushers and this is a feature-rich product release for Centercode!

new features 

✨ New Features ✨ 

Jack into Matrix Elements

Determining the best way to collect customer feedback on a survey or profile form can be a daunting ask. To better support the whole gamut of methods out there, Centercode now supports Matrix Elements. A question matrix is a common method of presenting multiple topics to collect sentiment responses. It’s usually considered a “single” highly structured survey element despite actually being multiple questions piled into one. 

Matrix Elements come as a dedicated element type in the Form Engine, giving you a full set of configuration options. You’ll set the Choices (column labels which default to 1 - 5) as well as the Items being rated (the rows); making configuring a Matrix Element flexible and intuitive. Like all our similar form elements, Choices and Items also allow for a front-end Label and internal Value so you can present something tester-facing on the form, but report the results in a language your stakeholders, data analysts, or integrated tools can easily understand. 

Important Notes:

• Don’t forget to update your Question Banks with some Matrix Element defaults for your surveys. Make sure folks are using accepted formatting or just give yourself a shortcut to dropping matrices in your forms!
• There may or may not be a spoon.

Top the Charts with Stacked Rank

As is the case with Matrix Elements, the visual presentation of a question can significantly influence the responses you get from your testers. In order to facilitate the most appropriate response from your respondents, Centercode has implemented a new Stacked Rank element type. This element uses an intuitive drag-and-drop interface that automatically randomizes the listed items and requires interaction to ensure you’re capturing the respondent’s prioritized list (and not lazy non- or half-answers).

Technically, I can’t submit my response as-is, but I’m sure you’d agree with that one at the top. ;)

We’ve taken the liberty of enforcing randomization in the source column because many administrators forget how seeding a response set can skew your data. By requiring the respondent to actively move items from one column to another, we’re ensuring they aren’t being lazy about their selections - they can’t just leave them there and still submit a response. Finally, the new Stacked Rank element is mobile-responsive (oriented vertically instead of side-by-side) meaning they can rank stuff on the go! 

Important Notes:

• With too many items to order, respondents typically only focus on tops and bottoms, meaning your “middle” rankings blur together, quickly losing their value. Avoid having more than about 7 items per stack.
• Easy prioritization is a HUUUUUGE time- and effort-saver. Now your testers can rank features, product concepts, their own priorities or interests, and their favorite jelly bean flavors.
• Don’t forget that we’ve built tools that automagically prioritize Feedback (issues, ideas, etc.), too!

New Question Types = Data Hypes

Are you ready for your new Element Types!? We sure are! 

Data collection for Matrix and Stacked Rank questions requires the Centercode platform to look at rating scales in a whole new way. Each Matrix and Stacked Rank element you create corresponds to multiple Rating Scale elements behind the scenes, meaning that a 5x5 matrix or 5-item stack is actually five independent rating scales magically stitched together in the UI. To facilitate easier data visibility and reporting, Filter and View interfaces will group corresponding Matrix or Stack items together under an appropriate heading:

In addition, the Reporting Engine includes a new Report Element Style which shows dynamically whenever you’ve selected items contained within the same Matrix or Stacked Rank Element. 

But wait! There’s more! When generating a new Macro Report, your Matrix and Stacked Rank Elements are automatically detected and the new style (shown below) will be available and selected by default. 

Also, note that since Matrices and Stacks consist of multiple Rating Scales, the Rating Scale option is still available when selecting individual data items.

Puttin’ On Our Marigolds

While some team members are plugging away at developing these incredible new features, others are ensuring that the existing platform components and capabilities perform to the highest standard and continually receive modernization adjustments. 

• Interface and Experience - Nathan’s developed rugged calluses on his hands from all the UI scrubbing. Interface performance and consistency continues to improve, and he’s lookin’ buff.
• URL Security - as a part of our ongoing security reviews, we've added even more protections against Cross Site Scripting attacks. 
• Platform Scaling - we’ve removed another speed-bump to implementing auto-scaling!

fixes 

🐞 Bug Fixes 🐞

The 16-4 release doesn’t have a specific list of bug fixes, but we’ve released seven patches since C16-3 in June. The list below provides customer-submitted bugs and minor feature improvements we’ve deployed since then.

Improvements / Feature Changes

• A new icon has been added signifying toggling from Simple and Advanced View in Feedback Management
• Feedback Workflows and Advanced Destination settings will now be included when using Copy Access while creating a new team

Access Control

• Users on an "Internal Member" level team can now access files appropriately within archived projects
• Non-admin accounts can no longer access Archived Projects even when following direct links
• Teams can no longer have their Team Type settings adjusted after initial creation process (preventing dangerously misconfigured Teams)

Filters & Views

• The "Submitter Assigned Test Platform" data engine criteria will once again return results as expected
• Filters containing Completed or Answered states of Paragraph Text elements will once again return appropriate results
• Corrected a partial fix for "Answered=Yes" Filter/View criteria in both User and Feedback management

Form Engine

• Paragraph form elements set as Conditional now display properly when maximized or minimized via tester-facing text editor
• Form element choices that contain specific international characters will now submit properly without error
• Modifying a form containing certain special characters no longer results in a bomb error in areas like Surveys, Workflow, Test Platforms, etc.

Integrations

• JIRA External Destinations failing with "The request was aborted: Could not create SSL/TLS secure channel" error now work as expected

Reporting

• Existing Report Elements using the "Answered = Yes" filter criteria targeting Paragraph text will now see proper results once they’ve been refreshed
• Paragraph textual form elements will once again match "Answered = Yes" correctly

User Interface

• User Summary links to containing Projects will now link to the matching Project User Summary page instead of Project Homepage
• A new icon was implemented for the Simple List toggle and returning to Simple List from Feedback view
• Email Template Preview viewed in-site more accurately matches the actual results observed when creating and receiving the email

WYSIWYG

• Note from Development regarding the Tester-Facing Text Editor:
  In an effort to protect you, your testers, and your site from nefarious activity (ex: XSS, CSRF, etc.) even if unintentional, the end-user WYSIWYG formatting capabilities are limited. We've had some clever testers attempt to paste HTML formatted copy from other sites, and it didn't go well. We now automatically paste plain text, which is much safer but will require manual formatting.
  It's important to note that this change only affects the Tester-Facing editor - We continue to allow admins (in admin-only areas like Content, Element Descriptions, etc.) to do weird stuff.
• The Link functionality seen when adding or modifying the description of a Text Entry form element no longer shows unintended settings

Miscellaneous / Performance

• Resolved occasional error for Feedback Roles page submission
• Some static text in Feedback Reply Notification emails have been converted to strings, allowing them to be edited or localized
• File Uploads with certain special characters will now properly complete and download