Keeping Your Volunteer Team in the Loop
This blog (in conjunction with your AngelPointers client email newsletter) gives you the most relevant information about changes to AngelPoints products and services that increase your productivity and drive engagement. To ensure that AngelPoints users at your company are aware of new features, we suggest that you point your system, group, and event managers to this information. Some ways to share: post a link to this page or copy its content to one of your custom content areas, such as the News & Information area or an About page.
Share Your Stories
Do you have stories that showcase your company’s commitment to volunteering? Have you found better ways of using AngelPoints to increase your productivity? Has AngelPoints better enabled you to promote your company’s events and boost engagement? If so, we’d like to write up your story as a case study, impact spotlight, white paper example, or best practice suggestion.
To share your expertise, please contact Molly Hovorka, Product Marketing Director, by email at mhovorka AT angelpoints DOT com.
Feature Updates
Note: The product changes described below apply only to AngelPoints Version 2. If a feature is listed as site configurable, please contact your account manager to enable it for your site.
- Board Membership - Users can now specify whether they are representing your company when serving on organization boards. The Board Membership and Board Participation report downloads both show company representation.
Site Configurable? No - Canadian Charities Added to the Database - The organization database has been updated to include approximately 84,000 Canadian organizations.
Site Configurable? No - Submitting IVA Hours - Now when your users use the copy functionality to log additional Independent Volunteer Activities (IVAs), the date will default to today's date instead of the last date they logged.
Site Configurable? No
Also, when a user adds a new IVA, you can opt to make the Detail/Description field required. This is especially useful for clients who use the CRA module and need to track more detailed information about these activities.
Site Configurable? Yes - Validating Hours - It is now easier to see more information about a volunteer’s participation when validating hours. Previously, you could click his/her name to send an email for more information. Now when you click the user’s name, his/her participant report is displayed. If you still need more information, an email link is available on the participant report page. Watch for more improvements to the Validate Hours page coming up over the next few months.
Site Configurable? No - Updating Groups Via Data Feeds - If a data feed contains new group information for a user, the new group information replaces the existing information in the database. If the feed does not contain any group information for a user, the existing information remains as the current group.
Site Configurable? No - Standard Text Boxes - Standard plain text boxes have replaced the rich text editors on the Submit Hours and Notes to Manager pages for all event types, as well as CRA Notes. By making the notes process simpler, overall usability will be improved and the number of errors reduced .
Site Configurable? No
Your Ideas = Our Action
By now, you've heard about the AngelPoints Ideas Portal. Thank you to everyone who has already logged in, voted on ideas, and commented on them. We're also in there responding to ideas and keeping statuses updated. If you haven't yet logged into the Ideas Portal, you're missing your chance to guide the AngelPoints product roadmap. You can vote on or "promote" any idea. We use the Ideas Portal to ensure that we give you what you need from our product. Some of the ideas that have received votes and comments so far:
- A report to track which users haven't yet filled out their profiles
- Mark events as "full" from the event list view pages
We're also happy to announce suggestions from the Ideas Portal that we've added to our Roadmap and are committed to delivering:
- Additional options when searching for organizations
- Improving the organization search
- Making flexible opportunities CRA eligible
- Event Manager email addresses on the downloaded Events Report
If you are still unable to log in to the Ideas Portal or if you have any questions about how it works, you contact Kate Derrick at kate@angelpoints.com.
In an effort to ensure that you receive timely and relevant product news and updates from AngelPoints, we've given AngelPointers a new look and direction. AngelPointers will now be emailed to clients one to two times per month as we release new features, and will be cross-posted here on the AngelPoints blog. Typically, you will find brief updates in your email version and more in-depth coverage online.
We are also launching a new website and user Help system early next year. AngelPointers will tie into our product blog on the website, giving you the option of subscribing to an RSS feed for the all the latest about our products and services as well as trends in volunteerism and corporate social responsibility. You'll find complete user documentation in the new Help system, and each release will include release notes directing you to changes in the product.Please let us know what you think by dropping us a line at marketing AT angelpoints DOT com.Sneak Preview of Rewards
AngelPoints is preparing to start beta testing its new Rewards module in the beginning of January. The initial release of this module will allow you recognize and reward employee volunteers through grant programs, and a subsequent release will add a merchandise rewards catalog. Volunteers will be able to see rewards for which they are eligible at a glance, as well as peruse the full catalog.
If you would like to beta test the rewards module, please email Angie Schiavoni , Director of Product, at beta AT angelpoints DOT com.
CRA Task List
Many of our clients who use the CRA module have asked for a way to go straight to the task list without hitting the CRA dashboard. Starting December 17, your CRA landing page will be your task list.
News From the Ideas Portal
We'd like to thank everyone who has added ideas and comments to the Ideas Portal since it's launch last month. The Ideas Portal allows select system managers from each company to provide feedback and post ideas on AngelPoints, and we'll keep you updated on the progress of ideas posted. There are currently almost 40 ideas on the portal and we have already added several items to our product roadmap based on your feedback, including showing users that an event is full, better management of shifts within an activity, and the inclusion of flexible opportunities in event searches and event listings on the home page. Please keep the great ideas coming.
50 Attendees Join AngelPoints for the First State of the Product Call
Ever wonder what new features AngelPoints has planned or what is happening with your feature requests? 50 attendees joined the AngelPoints team for our first State of the Product call on November 12. This forum, which will be scheduled quarterly, is your opportunity to hear a recap of recently released features, find out about upcoming product plans and share your feedback and questions with AngelPoints. The team also unveiled our new Ideas Portal, giving you more say and better insight into the way we prioritize feature requests. Keep your eyes open for information about our next call in the first quarter of next year.
AngelPoints Launches Ideas Portal
AngelPoints recently launched our client-driven Ideas Portal. This portal is a space for you to tell us what you need from AngelPoints products and services. You can post your ideas, as well as vote and comment on ideas posted by other clients. AngelPoints will be commenting and updating the status of issues to give you greater transparency into our product development process. We will be using the Ideas Portal as we plan out our future roadmaps and will give priority to the items with the highest votes.
We are currently in a soft launch of the Ideas Portal, so we ask that you designate one primary person from your company to be point of contact for adding ideas. To gain access to the Ideas Portal, please contact Kate Derrick at kate AT angelpoints DOT com. (If you RSVP'd to the November 12 State of the Product call, you should have already received your log-in information.)New Icons and Usability Improvements
Improving your user experience is one of our top priorities. To this end, we’ll be making a number of changes over the coming months to improve usability and the overall look and feel of AngelPoints.
Some of these changes are relatively minor in nature, such as using standardized, more intuitive icons. The new Driving Directions icon is an example of a change you’ll soon be seeing when we update all of our system icons before the end of the year.
Addressing more substantial usability issues, such as those that will streamline your workflow, will undergo refinement through out beta testing program before being communicated and released to you. If you are interested in participating in the AngelPoints beta program, please email beta AT angelpoints DOT com and we will contact you.
Flexible Opportunities Improvements
Several improvements have been made to Flexible Opportunities. First, volunteers can now search for Flexible Opportunities by location, and the default date range on the search is consistent with other scheduled events. In addition, the Flexible Opportunities have been added to the monthly Manage calendar, making it easier for manager to see all events in one place.
Rewards
Much of AngelPoints’ product news through the rest of the year will center around the development and launch of our new Rewards module to better support programs such as Dollars for Doers and grants. We’ll keep you informed here in AngelPointers of these additions so that you can coordinate with your Account Manager to add them to your site.
