March comes in like a lion, and so does Centercode! We’ve got a fresh round of improvements that we just couldn’t wait to get out to you, so they're roaring in a few days early. The March release includes a bevy of UI fixes, tweaks, and improvements that are guaranteed to get your month started off right. And, as always, check out the list of bug fixes we've deployed throughout the month.

improvements

📈  Improvements 📈 

Replying in style

First up, we've made some BIG improvements to the Feedback Reply UI! Replies and comments in Feedback Management will work exactly the way you’re used to (none of the functionality has changed), but we’ve upgraded to a cleaner, more readable, and more modern-looking interface.

The first change you’ll notice is that the entire reply interface now sits in a single contiguous window. Second, when you hover over a post, you'll see your admin edit tools more readily. Finally, we’ve switched the staff and important reply indicators from colored borders to a clearer, easier-to-notice tag system (which will allow us to add additional tags in future releases!). 

A new spring look for duplicates

Next in line are some improvements to our Feedback Duplicate and Predictive Match interface. Like the Feedback Reply UI, we've switched the Duplicate Feedback and Predictive Match interface to a single clean and contiguous window (#twinsies). The adjusted button width ensures your ticket information on the left side of the bar won't get covered. We've finished it off with visual polish here and there, including updated colors, icons, and brand new tooltips for each icon.

Supporting our Support menu

After years of supporting our customers, the Support Menu is getting some support of its own. We’ve added more helpful links and resources than you can shake a stick at! In the new Documentation and Testing Resources flyout menus, we’ve reorganized existing links and added a huge array of helpful resources, like our always-useful knowledge base articles, blogs, webinars, and guides. For members of the parasocial network, you'll also find links to our social media channels, so it's even easier to stay current with all the new content and resources we’re putting out! Lastly, the Subscription Dashboard link has moved from the Support menu to the User menu—a better fit for its role in your platform's functionality.

Keeping it simple

The Simple List is a key part of the feedback triage process. To make sure it presents the most important information in a concise and readable format (i.e., keeping it simple), we've tweaked the format to bring the ticket's Feature information into clearer focus. To accommodate this update, phase info has moved to a hover-over pop-up, so its easily accessible even with feature info in the spotlight.

Consolidated resource scheduling

Next up, we've streamlined resource scheduling by consolidating set dates and availability periods into a single, uniform tool. Before now, there were two different methods for scheduling resources in the platform: you had to choose specific start/end dates for some and set an availability period for others. We've decreased friction by combining these two methods and making that change consistent across all types of resources.

To schedule a resource for future publication or set an availability period, enable the Limit availability to a schedule checkbox. This option lets you set a publish date and, if applicable, choose how long it will remain available once published. Expired content will be archived automatically to keep your resource management workspaces cleaner.

A word of note: All existing customer resources will be updated to this new style. Any expired resources will be sent to your Archive automatically. The system will update any active resources that expire in less than 30 days so they'll deactivate right on time. Resources with expiration dates that are more than 30 days out have been set to "N/A" and should be checked manually.

A note about notifying

Publishing resources is that much more convenient now, thanks to a small but meaningful interface update! When you're publishing any resource (content, surveys, releases, etc), you'll have the option to Publish and Notify. you’ll have the option to “Publish and Notify”. Previously, these were two separate actions: you had to publish a resource, then manually select the Notify tool. This new option streamlines that flow, allowing you to immediately publish a resource and trigger the notify tool with no extra navigation required! 

To complement this change, we’ve cleaned up and consolidated the various page headings on the publish page into a single uniform infobox. Letting your testers know about the new resources you’ve created for them is now easier than ever!

The magical art of tidying up

And last on the list, we’re getting a head start on our spring cleaning by tidying up various UI elements all across the site. We’ve corrected text spacing and button transparency issues on many different pages and made slight adjustments to default feedback type colors. In addition, we’ve slightly increased the font size on some of our smallest text items throughout the site. This ensures they conform to accessibility font contrast standards no matter which colors your visual themes use. You may not notice these small changes, but you can trust that, like being in a clean house, it just feels better.

fixes  

🐞  Bug Fixes 🐞 

User Interface & Experience

• The font size used for navigation trails was increased slightly to conform to maintain accessibility standards

🐞  Bug Fixes 🐞 

Feedback Management

• The simple feedback list will now populate the status filter with all options regardless of set intent or not

Test Planning

• A caching issue when adjusting Phase availability was corrected to prevent a timing window of features that could not be completed

It’s February, and love is in the air! In this month’s Centercode release, we’re bringing you a heart-shaped box of bite-sized new features and improvements. Follow the trail of release note rose petals to learn about each of these exciting new Centercode additions! And, as always, check out the list of bug fixes we've deployed throughout the month.

improvements 

📈  Improvements 📈 

A Return to Form

The first arrow in Cupid’s release note quiver is a slight adjustment to last month’s community project list UI update. By popular demand program groups are returning to the Community Home project list!  We always love hearing from you what works and what doesn’t, and you let us know that program grouping was an essential way of managing large project lists. So, without further ado, we present the (new) new Community Home project list!

Quicker Quick Invites

Invite users into your community or projects (and possibly your heart?) faster than ever before with this handy new addition to the menu bar! This button keeps the ability to add users to your project or community front and center (well, slightly to the right) at all times. Additionally, we’ve given the Quick Invite menu a little polish to bring it in line with last month’s big UI update. Now get out there and get inviting!

Searching for Knowledge in all the Right Places

Centercode's search tool is getting a little love. Previously known as the “Knowledge Base,” we’ve given this handy tool a new name (now simply “Search”) and a makeover. Along with the name change, we’ve also updated (and added a more visible button) to the Search Reference Guide, which details precisely how to target the data you’re looking for!

Simpler Simple Lists

Last but not least, a quick update to the look of the Simple List feedback view. The intent of the Simple List is to present users with a succinct, at-a-glance summary of feedback tickets. But this view looked busier than we wanted it to, especially with the color-coded status tags. These tags will remain in the more information heavy feedback view types, such as the dashboard view. We stripped those tags out of Simple Lists(while maintaining the ability to filter the list by status if that is your intended purpose) to keep things readable and easy to navigate!

✏️ Let's Talk About Text: February's Copy Updates ✏️

A Rose by Any Other Display Name

Usernames are taking a new name: display names. As an admin, nothing's changed—you'll still have access to the full names of your members. 

What's in a name, you ask? The switch gives you more flexibility to manage your testers' privacy without sacrificing the security of having identifying info on file. The new label makes it clear to your users when completing this field that this may be shown to other participants, which is still something you have control over in your Project Settings.

More (Love) Language Updates

Communication is key to a successful relationship, so we focused on increasing clarity within your platform experience. Page titles and error messages are now more consistent. Blank states are also getting some much-needed love and showing off a little more personality. We hope these updates, while subtle, will win your heart.

fixes  

🐞  Bug Fixes 🐞 

Community & Project Homes

• Corrected an issue with Community Home listing Project Sources more than once under certain conditions

Localization & Strings

• Assuming a User will now show their expected Feedback Types instead of the assuming users on the Project Homepage & Dashboards.

Platform Security

• Addressed a security issue with files
• Addressed a password related validation issue

User Interface & Experience

• Assuming a User will now show their expected Feedback Types instead of the assuming users on the Project Home & Dashboards

Miscellaneous

• Stricter validation was implemented when creating a sub-domain within Signup
• More adjustments were made to file security behind-the-scenes to ensure Signup email files load correctly

🐞  Bug Fixes 🐞 

User Interface & Experience

• Assuming a User will now show their expected Feedback Types instead of the assuming users on the Project Homepage & Dashboards

🐞  Bug Fixes 🐞 

Localization & Strings

• A font update will now allow for more languages in Reporting file exports

Community & Project Homepages

• Corrected an issue with Community Home listing Project Sources more than once under certain conditions

Happy New Year! 🎇 We’re starting off 2023 by hitting the (metaphorical) gym and getting the site in shape with some visual improvements. We’ve beefed up the community homepage, added definition to the Success and Delta Health Score bars, and toned site wide with small but impactful visual tweaks. Finally, you can see proof of our sustained effort by checking out the regular bug fixes listed below.

improvements 

📈  Improvements 📈 

New Year, New Homepage

First on the list, we have a big visual update to how projects and opportunity lists are displayed on the community homepage! In addition to a bolder and more readable style, additional information and functionality has been added to the lists. The "My Projects" heading groups all the projects a user has access to, lists them alphabetically by codename, and shows which program it belongs to. Additionally, there's a tag that shows the current testing state of the project based on its current active phase type (if applicable).

Dressed for Success

Next up, we're giving the Delta Success Score a new uniform! Previously, your success score would display as red, yellow, or green, depending on a predefined low/medium/high score range. For now, we've provided a single color (Purple!) to represent this score, allowing you to focus more on the number itself as a key metric to measure your projects and your program.

The motivation for this change (based on your insightful feedback!) is that the definition of success will differ from product to product based on the ambitions of and investments in that product. That definition is currently not present in Centercode (spoiler: we're working to add it), so there was a reasonable possibility that we were using a negative color to represent what was actually a positive outcome.

Staying on the Cutting Edge

And last, but definitely not least, we've done a HUGE amount of UI polish throughout the platform. You'll notice these small but impactful tweaks on nearly every page, from adjusted padding and shadows to cleaner font weights and table styles. The list is long! We're always striving to improve, and we put a lot of work into this one. You can reach out to us via any of our normal chat or email support channels to let us know what you think, we'd love to hear your feedback!

fixes  

🐞  Bug Fixes 🐞 

Platform Security

• Addressed a security vulnerability with our Drafting functionality
• Addressed a security vulnerability with Feedback commenting

Project Templates & Cloning

• Account verification notices will now retain their selections when copied via Project Cloning

🐞  Bug Fixes 🐞 

Localization & Strings

• Fixed an incorrectly mapped string in the Product Verification tool

Platform Security

• We will now prevent certain special characters from being allowed in via External Authentication account First/Last/Username fields

We've got a big new feature for you this month, and we're not even making you wait until Christmas to open it! We're proud to announce that the  "Include Users" option when creating a project from a template is back—and it's better than ever. Learn more about what you can do with it below, and keep reading to see the other bug fix stocking stuffers we've wrapped up this month.

 new features  

✨ New Features ✨  

"Template Users" Brings “Include Users” Back and Better Than Ever!

The ability to carry over users when templating and cloning a project is a powerful tool that can save a lot of time when you're spinning up a new project. But the original implementation of this feature was all-or-nothing while your use cases called for something more deliberate or selective.

Because of the overly wide net it cast, using Include Users usually resulted in more confusion and clean-up work than it was worth once the project was cloned. Therefore, we took it back to the drawing board, and with some incredibly useful feedback from our users, we're proud to bring the "Include Users" feature back with some major improvements.

You can now access "Template Users" from the Project Template Settings menu, under the "Template Users" heading. This replaces (and includes the functionality of) the "Initial Team Membership" section. Adding "Include Users" to the project template process, instead of an ad-hoc decision you have to remember to make every time you clone a project, ensures you'll only need to set these options once to get the same results with each new project you clone from a template.

If you’re a project coordinator who maintains your templates and/or hands-off projects to PMs who request them, this also reduces the amount of follow-up needed to get your template ready for hand-off.

Additionally, the new Template Users section lets you get more granular by giving the option to select a specific team type (and individual teams for applicable Centercode editions).

Finally, to support this new feature, we've added some additional items to the Template Notes infobox that appears when you're configuring a new project during the cloning process. It now lists the specific number of users in each team type that will be included in the cloned project.

Using this powerful new function of the project template tool will make getting new projects up and running smoother than ever! Simply add your admin and support staff to the right teams and update your template to ensure the right people will be automatically included on every project using this template going forward.

improvements  

📈  Improvements 📈 

We’re Making a List and Checkboxing It Twice!

In addition to the big gift you've all been looking forward to, we've added a few ease-of-use updates to make your Centercode experience that much more comfy (like a nice warm pair of Centercode socks). We've started adding more context to our checkboxes to give you a better idea of what each one does. It's part of our ongoing effort to help you make the most of everything the Centercode Platform has to offer. And like a fruitcake that never seems to disappear….You'll see more of these holly jolly improvements into 2023.

fixes  

🐞  Bug Fixes 🐞 

Platform Security

• Shored-up a few scripting related security vulnerabilities

🐞  Bug Fixes 🐞 

Data Engine & Custom Reports

• Quick Export for forms and the Quick Export User/Feedback action will now once again load the correct view items
• Corrected manually emailed Reports incorrectly presenting distribution refreshing warning message. 

Integrations

• Feedback Type Dynamic Tags will load correctly again within External Destination configurations

User Interface & Experience

• A license limit message for Project max was utilizing the wrong messaging, and was adjusted

Miscellaneous

• Adjusted the Project User Summary scoring page to toggle between scope when scoring correctly

This month, we’ve got a veritable banquet of new features and improvements prepared for you! From new in-line image list view CDE items, to a quality-of-life improvement for project archiving, there’s something tasty for everyone. And as usual, we've continually deployed several bug fixes throughout the month that we've listed below.

announcements  

There's still time to enter October's Visual Theme Costume Contest. We're accepting screenshots until November 11th! Whether your site's theme is colorful or monochromatic, edgy or classy, this is a great opportunity to get your name out there in the world and score a little prize on the side! Check out the Announcement below for information on how to participate.

 new features  

✨ New Features ✨  

By Popular Demand: Feedback and User List Inline Images!

First on the menu is a dish many of you have asked for:  inline images and image thumbnails in your user management and feedback management list views. These new data points for the Centercode Data Engine have been a popular request, and we're excited to finally share it with you!

When creating a user or feedback view, you’ll notice three different view items related to file attachment form elements. These new items make it much simpler to get an in-platform view of images and files uploaded by users for specific forms.

“File Attachment Has Attachment” gives you a binary yes/no response if the user attached any files at all.

“File Attachment” shows a scaled version of the image inline:

“File Attachment Thumbnail” shows thumbnail versions of attached images:

improvements  

📈  Improvements 📈 

Simplified Project Archiving!

For our second course we’ve added the ability to archive a project from within the project itself. You’ll no longer need to navigate to Programs and Projects and find the specific project on the list (though that method is still available!). This option is located in the Project Configuration section of the Management menu when you're in a project.

Saving Time and Processor Power!

And last, but not least, is a feature designed to help you when your plate's piled a bit too high with automatically refreshing and distributed reports. We’ve implemented a new system that will automatically disable any reports that no one has viewed or interacted with in an extended period of time. This keeps your data fresh and your inbox uncluttered by old report emails you haven’t gotten around to turning off yet! (Note: This only applies to reports set to daily or weekly refreshes/distribution. Monthly reports will never automatically disable themselves.)

You’ll be notified of this two different ways: 

A new set of icons on the Report Management screen will show the status of reports that are set to auto-refresh. Green circle arrows indicate that a report is set to auto-refresh and has been viewed recently. Red circle arrows indicate that a report has not been viewed recently and will automatically deactivate soon. A red warning sign indicates that a report was set to auto-refresh, but it reached the time limit without being viewed, so it's been disabled.

When a report goes unviewed for an extended period of time, the people on its distribution list see an expiration warning at the top of their email with a link to refresh the report. To refresh it, they don't have to login—it just takes one user to follow the link and confirm that they'd like to keep receiving updates. This resets the report's expiration date and keeps it auto-refreshing and sending updates. No muss, no fuss!

fixes  

🐞  Bug Fixes 🐞 

Data Engine & Custom Reports

• User and Feedback Filter/View splash pages have been reworked to store prior selections as you are working within the page
• Corrected an issue causing "# of Activities" data counts to be inaccurate when factoring in regression features
• Corrected issue causing incorrect conversion to UTC date/time in exported Excel reports