Springing forward with the new release

We strive to continue to improve BoardEffect to meet the needs and requests of our clients and we are excited to have released the new features this Monday. Based directly on client feedback, we have increased the functionality of the product and hope that you enjoy the improvements as much as we do. We held two webinars to demonstrate the new features. During the webinar, questions were raised that we think were worth sharing. As a result, here are our top four FAQs of the spring release.

How are the changes to the Resource Library going to affect the folders with security settings that I’ve already created?

• All of the existing security settings will still be applied to the folders. Now, instead of adding individual users to restricted files, you can add entire committees or boards that will be reflect the existing committee or board list you have in your portal. So if a user is on a committee and she moves off the committee, she will no longer have access to that material. If you already have created restricted folders, you can add the committee or board to the restricted folder and then delete the individual users so that, moving forward, this will be an accurate up-to-date list.
• Board members will no longer see restricted folders that they do not have access to.
• There is a new Secured Folders area in the Resource Library under the left side bar under “New Folder” that displays all of the files with restricted access types on them so that only Top-Level Admins can see them in one place.
• You will also be able to delete multiple files by clicking the checkbox next to each file when viewing the folder in the Resource Library and clicking on delete.

When is it safe for me to edit a survey where I won’t delete all of the responses from my board members?

• If you have a survey that has expired, you can edit the survey information without wiping away the previous responses. You can change the expiration date of the survey as well as the description, title and email address to notify once the survey has been completed. Changing the expiration date will allow board members who did not respond before the survey expired to respond to the survey and also allow you as an Administrator, to respond on their behalf. Please note that if you reopen the survey for editing to change any questions created, you will remove all of the previous responses.

How will I know if I have responded on behalf of a board member in the survey?

• To see if an Administrator has responded on behalf of a board member in a survey, the survey cannot be anonymous and view individual results by user has to be turned on. If these settings are configured, you will be able to click on the results link and under reporting, you can click on “Individual Users” and when you click on the magnifying glass next to the user’s name, you can see above the question if an administrator responded on behalf of a user.

What are the new features with the agenda and how will it affect my…

• The new agenda features a new layout, a time field, a presenter field, an action item field and space for additional notes as well as the option to preview the agenda (without the page numbering) as you are working on it.

Existing meeting books?

• If you have already published the book, it will not affect the existing agenda. If you reopen the book for editing, the new agenda features will be pulled into the book and you will be able to access them.

Meeting books moving forward?

• Moving forward, all books created will incorporate the new agenda and can access its functionality.

Existing templates?

• If you do not reopen the template for editing, it will exist in its original format. Once you pull it into the book, it will be updated with the new agenda features.

Templates moving forward?

• All new templates can be created using the new template functionality that includes the ability to adjust the font color, size and font on the cover page. You also have the ability to adjust the font, size, color, numbering and toggle the view for the time, action item, presenter, file style columns and the main categories and sub categories as well. As in the meeting book, you can preview the agenda before you pull it into a template. You also have the ability to add files to a template.