Note before reading this article:
In a product update on 3/14/2023,
Projects were renamed to Opportunities
Campaigns were renamed to Initiatives.
Group Messaging used to be connected to what org you were looking at in the app. If you were a member of multiple orgs, you had to switch to that org's Hub to see the notification and messages. This made it difficult and clunky for users to use messaging, which is one of our most important features on the mobile apps. So this release is very big in helping improve user experience and adoption of Group Messaging. I think you will all enjoy it when you start playing around with it!
Here are a couple of details and screenshots to explain what changes you will notice on the apps:
New Messaging Button
There is a new Messaging button on the Home (Hub) section of the mobile apps. This button opens up a new messaging interface that shows all messages you have regardless of what org those Groups belong to. (Pro tip: you can hold down the message icon and drag it to a different part of the screen if you would rather it be on the right hand side of the app.)
The Group Messaging interface
This has drastically improved as it is more modern and user friendly. The list brings the most recent activity to the top, and it auto-updates in real time as messages are sent. You will notice that it feels more like one of your favorite messaging apps when compared to the old version of Group Messaging.
When you select a Group Message you get to the messaging interface that updates in real time. If you click on the info icon in the top right, you will see a list of Group Members and Shared Projects so that you can experience that functionality too while in the Group Messaging Interface.
Registration Cutoff Feature
This is a new Setting in the Org and Project Advanced Options that allows the Admin to set when registration for a Serving Date will close. This means that when a Project is created, you can choose to close down registration 24 hours in advance (as an example).
Below are some screenshots to tell you more about the feature:
The new Org Settings Advanced Options where the Admin sets the default for the Org looks like this:
On the Project Advanced Options, you can see the Registration Cutoff Time, and if it is not locked (of you are an Admin) you can adjust it on a per Project basis.
On the Project Page, this is what Volunteers will see.
Admin Group Dashboard.
There is now a date filter and a CSV export so that Admin Dashboard users can see how their Group is doing over a specific range of time. For example, if a user wants to see how their Group has been doing over the last 2 years, the Dashboard totals reflect that by default. If they want to narrow the range down to last month, they can do that too. Whatever the range is set to is what the CSV export will cover. The CSV Export includes all volunteer Participations in the date range similar to the Volunteer Resume Participation Export. Note that the CSV Export matches what the totals on the Dashboard say, so this gives the Admin user the ability to filter through more data for their Group.
The Admin Group Dashboard has a Date Range Picker, an Export button, and now shows the total number of Members in the table in the bottom section.
