Administrator Email - 8/1/2018 - Introduction
Version 8.0 - Part 3
This is Part 3 (finally!) of our ClubExpress version 8.0 announcement.
Click
here to read Part 1 - 5/25/2018.
Click
here to read Part 2 - 6/5/2018.
With this email, we are announcing many new and enhanced features in ClubExpress, including a new interface for creating and editing events, "Always Secure" mode with support for your own SSL Certificates, more Privacy changes, and some smaller changes. Click the links on the left to read all about them.
The "Always Secure" option and purchasing your own SSL certificate can be done right now. The Event Calendar changes will be deployed in the next few days. Since the event calendar is so important to so many organizations, we wanted to tell you about the changes, and
show them to you as well, before we deploy them.
We previously announced a webinar Wednesday, August 1, 2018 at 12:00 noon Eastern, 11:00 AM Central, 10:00 AM Mountain, and 9:00 AM Pacific., where we will demonstrate the new features.
For more information, visit our Webinars page. And click here to RSVP for this webinar if you have not already done so. Note that attendance is limited to the first 200 people; if you're late, you may not be able to connect. However, the webinar will be recorded and the edited recording will be available within 48 hours.
We have a video tutorial to explain the new Event Calendar features.
The Administrator Manual has also been updated and the online help system will be updated in the next week.
Privacy Update
Following customer feedback, we made a minor change to the initial Privacy page that users will see. There is a new radio button that allows members and non-members to agree to your club's privacy policy but to opt-out of receiving general emails from your organization:
- I Agree
- I Agree (but do not send general emails)
- I Do Not Agree
We have also added a new report: Members Without a Privacy Agreement.
Finally, we now also allow administrators to complete the privacy page on behalf of a member. When you do this, you are responsible for retaining the physical documentation that the member agreed to the privacy policy.
"ALWAYS SECURE" Mode and SSL Certificates
Previously, your ClubExpress website was displayed using:
- http:// (not secure) on public static pages
- https:// on public forms and whenever information is collected
- https:// when a member or admin logs in
We previously told you about the changes made in Google Chrome 68--which was just deployed--where websites that don't use
https:// everywhere are flagged as "NOT SECURE", and Google also downgrades their search results. Since Chrome handles about 60% of web traffic, this is a significant issue.
ClubExpress now allows you to be "Always Secure". There is a new button on the Control Panel - Website tab - Setup section - Domain Names/QuickLinks/Redirects page where you can change the website configuration so that even the public side is shown using
https://.
If you do nothing else, your domains will continue to work but the address bar will always use the "subdomain" format. For example, https://Subdomain.clubexpress.com. But we also now allow you to purchase an SSL Certificate for your domains through ClubExpress:
- 1 year for $45.00
- 2 years for $80.00
Certificates are issued and installed automatically. You also have the option to renew them automatically. SSL Certificates must be purchased through ClubExpress; we do not have the ability to manually install certificates purchased from another vendor.
When you purchase an SSL Certificate, the default website address will now be https://www.YourDomain.org. And this address will be displayed even after members log in (no more switching to the subdomain format)! The "NOT SECURE" warning will disappear and your website will be properly ranked in Google's search results.
EVENT CALENDAR Changes
We have redesigned the admin interface for creating and configuring events. Over the years, the interface to edit events had grown in complexity as we added new features. The new design allows you to focus on just the features you need and hide the other stuff. You can also better track your progress in completing and publishing the event.
There are also new and more flexible Registrant Types:
- Everyone (usually used on its own)
- Active Members
- Member Guest - secondary or tertiary (e.g. a family member)
- Member Guest - another member
- Member Guest - a non-member
- Member by Type (e.g. a special rate for Students or Life Members)
- Member of a specified Committee (e.g. a special rate for the Board of Directors)
- Member of a specified subgroup (e.g. a chapter, district, or region)
- Any Non-Member
- Non-Member in a Mailing List Category (e.g. a special rate for "Press")
- Non-Member Guest
Registrant types are now defined separately for each event but you can copy types from another event. And for a multi-activity event, you can copy registrant types between activities. As part of a redesigned Event Registration Wizard, the system will now only show the registrant type(s) that apply to the person being registered, whether they be a member, a non-member, or a guest.
We also added many more event defaults.
There is a video tutorial to demonstrate this new interface. Click
here to view it. And again, the new interface will be deployed in a few days, after some final testing.
ATTENDANCE TRACKING
In a couple of weeks, we will deploy a new feature to allow you to record attendance at events using a mobile device or portable computer. With just a couple of taps, you'll be able to select an event, select from a list of attendees, and record attendance. You'll also be able to record attendance for people who were not previously registered.
And most importantly, you'll also be able to do this by scanning a bar code on a membership card using your mobile device or a portable scanner attached to the computer!
Other Changes
A new button in the Member Manager allows you to drop members whose membership expired on or before a specified date. This feature allows you to remove them from the default view of the Member Manager. They will still be in the database and available if you need to look something up.
The Member Number is now included in the heading panel of a member's Profile screen.
Discussion Forums will now reject messages without a Subject. This should significantly reduce the incidence of spam emails being posted to forums.
Customized member emails can now include the Salutation field.
Bug Fixes
The following bugs were fixed in the past 3 months:
- Invoice reports were not being formatted correctly for clubs that do not accept checks.
- In the Advanced Content Editor for a custom web page, the Insert Photo function was always inserting an image, never a link or thumbnail.
- In the new Emailings interface:
- Saved Distribution lists were not displaying correctly.
- When you added or edited a distribution list to a Plain Text emailing, the text was being lost.
- Changing the default emailing From Name and Reply To Address was not being saved.
- Committees were showing a member as being active if their term start date was not specified, even if the term end date was in the past. People will now be considered active if both the term start and end dates are empty; if there is no start date but the end date is today or in the future; if there is no end date but the start date is today or in the past; or the start date in the past and the end date is in the future.
- For a short period of time, documents that were only visible to members were not being displayed correctly when members clicked a link to that document in an Emailing.
- The Member/User Transactions report was showing PayPal transactions as "Unknown".
- In the Interests module, there was a problem adding a member when no-one was yet in the interest group.
- In the E-Commerce Storefront module, we fixed a problem with rounding of purchase amounts to the nearest whole dollar.
- After recent updates, paging was not working correctly in the Photo and Photo Album Managers.
Again, all of these problems have been fixed.