Administrator Email - 4/8/2021 - Announcing
Version 63
We're excited to announce ClubExpress Version 63
This release improves email deliverability, adds new appearance options for the member directory, adds features to the event calendar, and many other enhancements.
All features listed here have been deployed.
As we noted last month, we have enhanced our Administrator Forums so that we can now support multiple forums for different parts of the platform, and for different vertical markets. We have new admin forums for cycling clubs, fishing clubs, yacht and sailing clubs, skiing clubs, and bar and legal associations. These forums provide a place to discuss ways of getting the most out of ClubExpress for each specific type of organization. If these forums are used, we will certainly add more in the future. And if you're not yet using our Administrator Forums to talk with other club admins, just enable the Discussion Forums function on the Control Panel - Communications tab. You don't need to put it on the menu or even define forums for your own organization. Just enabling this module is enough for the admin forums to appear when you View available forums.
We will be holding a webinar on Wednesday, April 14th, starting at 12:00 Noon US Eastern time, 11:00 AM Central, 10:00 AM Mountain, and 9:00 AM Pacific, for those who want to learn more about these enhancements. If you can't make it, the webinar recording will be available on Friday, April 16th, on the ClubExpress
YouTube channel. There is no need to register for this webinar. Here are the connection details:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89174126893?pwd=L0k4bXgrYnpEUmwzUXVtS1EzUStSZz09
Meeting ID: 891 7412 6893
Passcode: 917790
We have also recently updated the ClubExpress Subscription Agreement to add a new clause banning hate speech and the deliberate propagation of misinformation.
4/21/2021 Update - We've also deployed a number of enhancements to our support for Aging-in-Place Villages. Please see the special section.
One more notice: We previously announced that the planned upgrade to our hosting environment had been postponed to Saturday, April 10th. Unfortunately, we've had to postpone it again, due to circumstances outside our control. The new date will be some time in June. We'll let you know when we firm up the details.
In this issue:
Email Deliverability
We have made a significant change to how emailings are being sent from ClubExpress, in an effort to improve deliverability. Some clubs and associations have complained that too many blast emails are being delivered to member junk folders; this change is designed to eliminate or significantly reduce this occurrence.
In order to receive this benefit, clubs and associations need to use a "From" address which is either hosted by ClubExpress or where we have added an SPF record to our domain nameservers, which allows us to send email on behalf of that domain. If your domain name is pointed to our nameservers at your domain registrar, everything should already be properly configured. If not, please contact the Support team to verify that the necessary SPF record exists.
But in general, if the president sends a blast emailing and uses "president@YourDomain.org", and "YourDomain.org" is configured in the ClubExpress DNS system, the new configuration will be applied. These emails will now come from "YourDomain.org" instead of "mail2.clubexpress.com" as previously configured.
Note that if you use a private email address such as "YourName@gmail.com", the email will still be sent from "mail2.clubexpress.com" and you may have instances where these emails are delivered into member junk folders. This also applies if your club or association does not have a domain name at all.
Also please note that this change does not yet apply to system emails (such as renewal notices and payment confirmations) or emails sent by discussion forums. We are waiting to see if this change actually improves deliverability of blast emailings before we roll it out to other parts of the platform.
Member Directory
We have changed the appearance of the cards used to display results in the Standard Member Directory and Business Directory to make them more modern and appealing. There are now four options from which to choose:
 |
Redesigned, standard card |
 |
Vertical card |
 |
Photo with name below. When users hover over the photo, the card information drops down below the photo. |
 |
Photo with name below. When users hover over the photo, the card information appears over the photo. |
You can select your preferred design from the Standard Member Directory Options page. Whichever design you choose will also be used for the Business Directory module, the Committees module Members page, and the Interests module Members page.
Over the years, we've built many custom directories and "Finder" modules for customers, to handle the specific needs of your club or association. If you'd like to use one of the new designs for an existing custom directory or Finder, please let us know. A small programming fee will apply to convert the appearance of the results panel to the new design.
Event Calendar
The following enhancements were added to the Event Calendar module:
- QuickEvents now includes the ability to control event Capacity, including whether or not to show capacity and available slots.
- The main Event Calendar Search panel now includes an option to only show events with available capacity (as well as events that don't have a capacity limit.)
- On the Member Profile - Event History screen, members will now also see a list of events for which the member is waitlisted.
- For multi-tier organizations with separate websites (what we call "Multi-Tier Option 2"), the Upcoming Events widget at the top level now includes events created by lower level organizations and flagged to be shown on the top level calendar. When used on a lower level website, the same widget now also includes events created by the top level organization and flagged to be shown on lower level websites. (Note that this feature will be deployed in the next couple of days.)
Other Enhancements
- In the following places, we have replaced the old, complex, text editor with a newer and simpler editor:
- Standard Member Directory - Bio
- Business Member Directory
- Additional Member Data - Define Question text
- Surveys - Define Question
- Ad Hoc Forms - Define Question
- Collectibles - Define Question
- Donation Fund Purpose
- Photo Album - Long Description
- E-Commerce Storefront - Product Description
- Classified Ads - Description
- Benefits Module
- Define Joining Agreement
- When a QuickLink is used, the system will now retain the QuickLink in the address bar, instead of replacing it with the full URL that the QuickLink represents.
- In the Page Builder used to edit the Home Page and static web pages, we have added a "Copy" and "Paste" function, allowing you to copy the contents of a cell and paste them into another cell in the same page or even a different page.
- We are making further improvements to Gift Memberships and how payments are recorded. When the membership is partly covered by the gift and the balance is paid by check or cash, the Pending Payment page will now show the gift membership code, allowing the admin to apply it before recording the check or cash payment for the balance.
- For all discount coupons, not just Gift Memberships, the currently applied discount code will be displayed when the page is printed, or when an invoice is printed.
Aging-in-Place Village Enhancements
- Villages now have the option of simplifying the Service Request screens, by removing options that they do not need or use. Go to the Service Options screen to configure the following settings:
- For all Request Types:
- High Priority?
- Custom Fields
- Responsible Staffer
- Contact Log
- Provider Ratings
- Person to CC:
- For Transportation Requests:
- Is Date/Time Flexible
- Duration One Way vs. Round Trip
- Followup Date
- For Home Requests:
- Is Date/Time Flexible
- Followup Date
- For Contractor Referrals:
- Miscellaneous:
- Flag Past Requests Button
- Allow Office Time Requests
- Allow Contractor Referrals
- Contact Log
- Provider Ratings
- Person to CC:
- The ToDo List option has been removed.
- On the Add/Edit Service Request screen, the grid showing service providers assigned to the request has been redesigned and simplified. Now the provider's name is a link that displays a standard popup with that person's contact information. Also, Staff notes have been moved to a separate popup. These changes allow the list of providers to be collapsed and made easier to read.
These are just the first changes in a further round of enhancements to our support for Aging-in-Place Villages. Look for more new features and changes next month.
Bug Fixes
The following bugs were fixed since our last version announcement:
- In the E-Commerce Storefront module, there was a problem associated with the number of downloads someone can do from a digital product. The Download count option has also been removed.
- Mailing label reports for non-members were displaying a "500-Server Error" message.
- After recent forum enhancements, there was a problem posting messages using the plain text editor (no formatting).
Again, all of these problems have been fixed.