Last month we announced the introduction of two new dashboards to help organizations manage their expansion and accreditation services. This month we are happy to announce several new features and improvements that were developed to make our user's experience faster and more efficient. We continue to put an emphasis on efficiency, collaboration, and transparency; hopefully that is evident in this update.

Improved Collaboration

We believe that collaboration between students, staff, and volunteers is absolutely crucial for the development of a chapter. One of the most popular features that we have developed to date is the Activity Feed. This feature gives all parties the ability to communicate with one another using VeriSky, eliminating the need for frequent emails and conference calls. Completing a requirement for a probation, colony petition, or accreditation application is significantly easier when students can solicit help from their network of professionals and volunteers with the click of a button.

We have made some significant changes to the activity feed that we hope you will enjoy. First, you will notice that we have eliminated the old popup comment box and instead, all comments are made inline with the other comments in the activity feed. We have also added functionality for users to upload documents along with their comment. This will allow for easier sharing of resources and provide managers an opportunity to edit documents and provide feedback right on the dashboard.

Simpler Submissions

This update is for the students. We recognize that the submission process can be a bit confusing and we have taken the first step in simplifying this process. In the past, uploading support materials and submitting those materials for approval were two completely separate processes. We have combined them into one simple process that should make it significantly easier for students to submit the necessary support materials for each requirement. Clicking on the big green "submit for verification" button will bring up a small popup window where students can attach the final version of their support material, leave a comment, and submit for approval. The comment and file will both appear in the activity feed inline with all of the other comments. As we continue to simplify the process for students and managers, we expect that all actions will take place within the activity feed. Do you have an idea about how we can simplify this process even more? Please email us at support@verisky.com and tell us your idea!

Manager Swap & Due Date Extensions

The best web tools give users the power to complete any type of task without the need for human support. Think about Facebook, Twitter, or any other popular web-based service. When you want to post a comment, upload a photo, change your privacy settings, invite friends, or input payment information you can do so with the click of your mouse. When was the last time you called Facebook HQ to let them know that you would like to post a status update? If you were thinking anything other than "never," you probably shouldn't be using Facebook. To this point, we want to ensure that everything you want to do on VeriSky can be done on your own, without the need for a VeriSky employee.

Manager swap and due date extensions are two new features that do just this. Administrators now have the ability to swap out a manager at anytime, even after publication. This is very useful in the case that a volunteer steps down from his or her position, the Greek Adviser is promoted, or new staff members are added to the team. To swap out a manager, an admin can select the change link next to the current manager's name and select any new manager to replace her. Managers will remain active in the system even if they are swapped out. To delete a manager, users can go to the user list at the bottom of the dashboard and choose to remove them from the organization's dashboard permanently.

Another feature that has been requested by several users is the ability to grant due date extensions. How many times has a student asked for an extension on a requirement due to finals, a formal, or Greek week? To many to count, I'm sure. For this purpose, we want to allow administrators and managers who are assigned to the requirement the ability to grant extensions. To be fair to the student leaders, dates prior to the original due date may not be selected, but any date following the original due date may be selected.

What else would you like to be able to do with VeriSky? Let us know!

Advanced Notification Settings

We understand that an empty inbox is a happy inbox, but for those of you that want to receive email notifications every time a comment is made or a file is uploaded, we are happy to do so. Individual users now have the ability to control some of their automatic notification preferences as well as email preferences regarding emails from us about product updates and new features.

Administrators will also find a new "admin options" section that allows them to further customize reminder emails for everyone in their organization. We will continue to add additional tools to this section that give admins even more power to customize the experience for their organization. What admin tools would you like to see added in a future update? Let us know!

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