Acendre Release Notes - Release 5.5

Table of Contents
Acendre Release Notes - Release 5.5
New Feature Summary
Recruitment Enhancements
Feature 1: Hiding Automatically Displayed Logon Information
Feature 2: Configuring the Number of Records Displayed in a List
Feature 3: Ability to Delete Global Questions from Forms when Deleting Form Steps
Feature 4: New Applicant Pool Sort Order
Feature 5: Candidate Portal Password Enhancements
Performance Enhancements
Feature 1: Multi-Phase Reviews
Feature 2: Check-In Tool: Add note & file against a competency in performance diary
API Enhancements
Feature 1: Global Assessment API
Feature 2: Workflow Identifier and Search API
Fixes
Acendre Recruitment
Acendre Performance

New Feature Summary

Product	Feature	Description
Recruitment	Hiding Automatically Displayed Logon Information	When users logged into Acendre Recruitment or Performance they were automatically presented with logon information relevant to the user. Customer feedback was that this automatic display hampered the user's ability to promptly navigate through the system. As a result, we have amended the functionality so that it no longer displays automatically.
	Configuring the Number of Records Displayed in a List	The ability to customise the information displayed in lists has been enhanced. Existing functionality allowed the user to customise the number of records displayed to be 10, 20, 30 or 50. The setting could be customised on each list, but would revert to the default of 20, when the user logged out. We have enhanced the functionality to allow for greater customisation of the number of records in lists and the selection will no longer revert to a default when the user logs out.
	Ability to Delete Global Questions from Forms when Deleting Form Steps	When a super user had a need to delete a form step from either within an active record, from the form template library or within a template the only available options to manage the included Global Questions was to move them to an alternative existing form step or to delete the questions manually prior to deleting the form step. To remove the administration attached to this feature we have expanded the options to allow a selection of deleting the global questions within the form step.
	New Applicant Pool Sort Order	Title 5 recruitment regulations allow for candidates to be preferenced based on their Veteran status. In order to facilitate this function, there has been a new sort option added to the Applicant Pool entitled Use Preference Status.
	Candidate Portal Password Enhancements	The candidate portal password feature has been enhanced to allow clients the ability to control the locking of candidate portal accounts. New functionality has been introduced to allow clients to determine how many incorrect password attempts a candidate can perform and configure a lockout period. When the lockout period has elapsed, the candidate will be able to either reset their password or attempt to login again. Facilities to manually unlock a locked candidate portal account have also been provided, should there be a need to manually unlock the candidates account before the lockout period has elapsed.
Performance	Introduction of multi-phase reviews	'Multi-Phase Review' feature has been an outcome of the feedback we have received over time and our continuous approach to innovate. With multi-phase review feature you will have the ability to manage your organisations performance reviews (quarterly, mid-year or annual) in a single template which would enable a seamless employee experience. Performance diary feature will provide the ability to capture continuous feedback from your employees during the review period. This guide provides insight into the changes which have been made.
Performance	Check-In Tool: Add note & file against a competency in performance diary	Currently in Acendre Performance a diary note can be added against a goal. We have extended this capability to competencies and now notes can be recorded against both goals and competencies. This feature will provide the ability to capture feedback for metrics against which an employee is appraised.
API	Global Assessment API	We are introducing a new API into our API product suite which will allow to send/export information anytime during the assessment process and receive/import information for the sent request.
	Workflow Identifier and Search API	We have extended our application identifier and search API and introduced a new API endpoint – workflow identifier and search endpoint which will provide the ability to search for any workflow in the Acendre product suite. For example: requisition, jobs or reviews.

Recruitment Enhancements

Below are the listed enhancements included within the 5.5 release. These items are centred around usability improvements and expanding our candidate password management functionality.
If you require any further information regarding these new features, please reach out to your Client Success Manager who will be able to take you through these further.

Feature 1: Hiding Automatically Displayed Logon Information

Description: When users logged into Acendre Recruitment or Performance they were automatically presented with logon information relevant to the user. Customer feedback was that this automatic display hampered the user's ability to promptly navigate through the system. As a result, we have amended the functionality so that it no longer displays automatically.
How this helps: There have been no changes to the information that will display within the logon pop up, but it will no longer automatically display. Users will need to click the Logon Information menu item to view the information.
The pop up can be closed by simply clicking anywhere on the page or clicking on the X in the top right.

Feature 2: Configuring the Number of Records Displayed in a List

Description: The ability to customise the information displayed in lists has been enhanced. Existing functionality allowed the user to customise the number of records displayed to be 10, 20, 30 or 50. The setting could be customised on each list, but would revert to the default of 20, when the user logged out. We have enhanced the functionality to allow for greater customisation of the number of records in lists and the selection will no longer revert to a default when the user logs out.
How this helps: This allows greater customisation for the user and addresses a usability issue with selections not being retained across sessions.
The new available options will be 50, 100, 150 or 200. Acendre Support Consultants can customise these options, to a maximum of 500, should you wish to provide alternative selections for your users.

Feature 3: Ability to Delete Global Questions from Forms when Deleting Form Steps

Description: When a super user had a need to delete a form step from either within an active record, from the form template library or within a template the only available options to manage the included Global Questions was to move them to an alternative existing form step or to delete the questions manually prior to deleting the form step. To remove the administration attached to this feature we have expanded the options to allow a selection of deleting the global questions within the form step.
How this helps: The expansion of this feature allows for quicker management of form steps and addresses the frustrations in having to manually delete each global question within that form step.
Example: There is an existing Application Form within the form template library that I would like to reuse on a new job template. Within the Application form there is a section that is not applicable to the new Job Template. Previous functionality, would have meant that I needed to copy the Application Form, manually delete each question within the no longer relevant form step before deleting the form step. New functionality will allow me to delete the no longer relevant form step and all the global questions within that step.
How to use the new options

Step Number	Description
1	Navigate to the form that requires a form step to be deleted. This feature can be used within the Form Template Library, on the applicable Template or within an individual record.
2	Locate the no longer required form step and select Delete step Note: This feature is not available on forms with only one form step.
3	The Delete Step Confirmation screen will be displayed with the options to move the questions to an alternative step or to remove all step questions.
4	Select the option Remove all step questions from form and click Delete
5	A warning popup will be displayed and Cancel or Proceed can be selected. If Cancel is selected, you will be navigated back to the Delete Step Confirmation screen. If Delete is selected the Form Step and the Global Questions within the step will be removed and you will be navigated back to the Form with a confirmation message displayed.

Feature 4: New Applicant Pool Sort Order

Description: Title 5 recruitment regulations allow for candidates to be preferenced based on their Veteran status. In order to facilitate this function, there has been a new sort option added to the Applicant Pool entitled Use Preference Status.
How this helps: When this new option is selected, applicants will be sorted in the following order:

CP or CPS in alphabetical order, followed by
XP in alphabetical order, followed by
TP in alphabetical order, followed by
SSP in alphabetical order, followed by
NV (non-veteran) in alphabetical order

How to use the new option

Step Number	Description
1	Navigate to the Vacancy Dashboard and select Applicant Pool
2	Scroll to the Sort Options section and locate the new option Use Preference Status When the Use Preference Status tick box is selected the Use Entitlement Groups and the Sort Type will become read only.
3	Applicants will then sort in the following order: CP or CPS in alphabetical order, followed by XP in alphabetical order, followed by TP in alphabetical order, followed by SSP in alphabetical order, followed by NV (non-veteran) in alphabetical order

Feature 5: Candidate Portal Password Enhancements

Description: The candidate portal password feature has been enhanced to allow clients the ability to control the locking of candidate portal accounts. New functionality has been introduced to allow clients to determine how many incorrect password attempts a candidate can perform and configure a lockout period.
When the lockout period has elapsed, the candidate will be able to either reset their password or attempt to login again.
Facilities to manually unlock a locked candidate portal account have also been provided, should there be a need to manually unlock the candidates account before the lockout period has elapsed.
How this helps: This feature provides enhanced security control by locking candidate portal accounts. The configurable lockout period allows the lock and unlock process to occur without any intervention from the client.
How to use the new feature

Determine how many logon attempts you would like to permit candidates. This number can be between 3 and 10.
Determine how long you would like the lockout period to be. This number is recorded in minutes and must be a minimum of 30.
What information would you like to display to candidates when they lock their account? This is configurable on a per audience basis. A default message has been provided.
Would you like to use a notification email to advise the candidate when their account is locked and then unlocked?
Which users/user groups have permission to unlock locked accounts?

Step 1 – Configure the number of incorrect logon attempts

Step Number	Description
1	Navigate to the System tab and select the option Configure CP Password Policy within the Candidate Portal menu
2	The Configure CP Password Policy will be displayed. Navigate to the Manage Candidate Portal Lockout Policy section and enter the desired number of incorrect password attempts in the field Candidate ID Retries Before Lockout. Note: The field will accept numbers between 3 and 10 with a default of 3.
3	Select Save

Step 2 – Configure the required lockout period

Step Number	Description
1	Navigate to the System tab and select the option Configure CP Password Policy within the Candidate Portal menu
2	The Configure CP Password Policy will be displayed. Navigate to the Manage Candidate Portal Lockout Policy section and enter the required lockout period in minutes. Note: The field requires a minimum value of 30 with a default of 30.
3	Select Save

Step 4 – Determine the message displayed to the candidate when they lock their account

Step Number	Description
1	Navigate to the System tab and select the option Configure CP Password Policy within the Candidate Portal menu
2	The Configure CP Password Policy will be displayed. Navigate to the Manage Candidate Portal Lockout Policy section and all configured audiences will be displayed
3	The information that will be presented to the candidate is displayed in the column CP Lockout Message *Things to note:* This field requires html to manage formatting. As default, we have provided a message that includes the html formatting. If the information within this field needs to be updated, do not remove the html If the html has been removed the message will display to the candidate as one long line of text. Use the <P> html to indicate the beginning and the end of a paragraph The field [Lockout Period] is a merge field and the value entered into the Candidate ID Lockout Period (minutes)* field will be displayed here when presented to the candidate*
4	When changes have been completed, select Save
5	The field CP Lockout Message is also available on the Manage Audience Type Details screen. This allows for the CP lockout message to be configured when a new audience is created.

Step 4 – Configure notification emails to candidate

Step Number	Description
1	Navigate to the System tab and select the option Email Templates within the Communication Manager menu
2	The Email Template List screen will be displayed. There are two new email templates that have been created: Candidate Portal Lockout Email Template Candidate Portal Unlocked Email Template
3	Select Edit to customise the content of these emails
	Candidate Portal Lockout Email Template:
	Candidate Portal Unlocked Email Template:
4	If new email templates are required, they can be completed by using the new Email Template Types Candidate Portal Lockout Notification Candidate Portal Unlock Notification Additional instructions on email template creation is available on our Knowledge Base.
5	When the templates have been edited or created, they need to be attached to the correct audience. Navigate to the System tab and select the option Configure CP Password Policy within the Candidate Portal menu
6	The Configure CP Password Policy will be displayed. Navigate to the Manage Candidate Portal Lockout Policy section and all configured audiences will be displayed
7	Use the Locked Email Template and Unlocked Email Template column to select the applicable email template. All previously edited or created email templates will be available in the respective drop-down menu for selection
8	When the required email templates have been selected click on Save
9	The fields Locked Email Template and Unlocked Email Template is also available on the Manage Audience Type Details screen. This allows for the email templates to be selected when a new audience is created.

Step 5 – Configure the ability to unlock locked CP accounts

Step Number	Description
1	Navigate to the user or user group that you would like to give the permission that allows for manual unlocking of locked CP accounts
2	From either the Manage User or the Manage User Group screen, click on the Module Permissions action.
3	Ensure the user or user group has access to the Security module
4	Navigate back to the Manage User or the Manage User Group screen and click on the Function Permissions action.
5	Scroll down the screen and locate the Security section and the item Locked CP Account List. Ensure this is ticked
6	Select Save The particular user or user group will now have access to a new menu item on the System tab entitled Locked CP Account List
7	The Locked CP Account List will display any CP account that has been locked and allow for the manual unlock

Candidate Experience

Step Number	Description
1	If the candidate attempts to login to their CP account with the incorrect information they will receive the below notification The candidate will be advised how many incorrect attempts they have remaining and will have the ability to reset their password. This counter will keep decreasing with the number of incorrect attempts until the account is locked.
2	When the candidate exceeds the number of incorrect logon attempts, they will be presented with the configured CP Lockout Message
3	If the candidate attempts to reset their password during the lockout period, they will be presented with the below information
4	If a locked email template has been configured, the candidate will receive an email confirming that their account has been locked. Their account information will also appear in the Locked CP Account List and can be manually unlocked. If an unlocked email template has been configured, the candidate will receive an email when their account unlocks.

Performance Enhancements

Feature 1: Multi-Phase Reviews

Description Acendre Performance product team is excited to introduce 'Multi-Phase Review' feature. This feature has been an outcome of the feedback we have received over time and our continuous approach to innovate. With multi-phase review feature you will have the ability to manage your organisations performance reviews (quarterly, mid-year or annual) in a single template which would enable a seamless employee experience. Performance diary feature will provide the ability to capture continuous feedback from your employees during the review period. This guide provides insight into the changes which have been made.
How this helps:

With multi-phase reviews you will not have to create and manage multiple review templates for each review cycle. It will take away the administrative overhead of managing multiple review templates.
Multi-phase review will provide an overall result from different review cycles. For example, if you are an organisation who undertake mid-year and annual review, a final overall result will be available if you choose so.

With the introduction of multi-phase reviews, you can still use your old template and there will be a few UI changes. We recommend that you reach out to your client success manager to book a consultation session with our professional services team, in addition to the details which are available in this document.

UI changes for the old review template

Step Number	Description
1	Review Cycle concept is introduced as a part of multi-phase reviews. Review cycles depict review period time - quarterly, mid-year, annual. Each review on a pre multi-phase review template will now have an additional ribbon/field to show review cycle. This does not impact the functionality or the way the review template was set, just an UI update. Type depicts review cycle. The next two screenshot show the UI change on admin portal.
2	The pre multi-phase review template will have the below view,
3	In the employee portal, you will see review cycle shown as an additional ribbon which will contain the phases of the review and the name of the cycle is the type of review which was set. No change is made to the functioning of the reviews.

How you can use the new multi-phase template – Admin Portal

Step Number	Description
1	To create a new multi-phase review template, go to review templates and create new.
2	The type drop-down is removed from this screen with the introduction of review cycles.
3	Review template screen has template details, roles and notifications. A new action 'Add Review Cycle' is available to add review cycles to the template.
4	A few points to note. Review template will be initially set up with no phases. Notifications and Roles section will be visible. A new option Add Review Cycle will be available with options – Quarterly, Mid-Year, Annual, Custom. Enable '*Automatically Update Review Roles Based on Manager Change?'* to update review roles when reviewer is changed. Enable 'User Information on Review' setting to always keep the position details of employee and manager up-to-date and in-sync with your HRIS. Each cycle has three phase - Goal, Appraisal, Development.
5	Roles can be created or edited. No changes to existing roles functionality have been made as a part of multi-phase reviews.
6	Notifications work the same way as they work today. To cater for multi-phase notifications new merge fields have been added in editor. Select merge field value as review cycle name along with all the other tags available in the merge field list. Follow the screenshots below for the set-up.
7	To cater for multiple cycles in a single review and to reduce the administrative overhead we have introduced cycles concept. On a review template you can add quarterly, mid-year, annual and custom cycles and define the template in line with your organisation's performance reviews.
8	A few points to note. Goal Setting Phase is required for the first cycle in the review. Once phases are saved each cycle has edit and delete option available. The steps available in each phase are same as before. The delete button a cycle is only editable when all the steps in the steps and phases are removed. There is an info icon providing the same details for user support. A single goal setting phase can be linked to multiple cycles by using associated goal phase setting. Or a new goal setting phase can also be created which is not linked to previous cycle by selecting goal setting phase checkbox and clicking submit button. Annual cycle should be the last cycle for each review with multiple cycles. In Manage Result Summary step, a new field "Display Overall Result " with option 'Yes' or 'No' is introduced. This setting enables the visibility of a new step 'Overall Result' on annual cycle, where you can see the average score of from all cycles. "Display Overall Result " option is available only in annual review cycle. Overall result step shows all individual appraisal phase result and total result. Total result is sum of all appraisal phase results and divided by number of phases. The screenshots below show the above changes.

How you can use the new multi-phase template – Employee Portal

Step Number	Description
1	In the employee portal, each cycle will be displayed as an additional ribbon containing the phases for the cycle.
2	If a cycle contains linked Goals from other cycles, then Goal phase will not be visible in employee portal. But corresponding Goals/Competency will be available for rating in Appraisal Phase. In the screenshot below as goal phase is same for quarterly and annual cycle – you will have goals set only once and you can appraise them in the two phases.
3	If a cycle contains linked Goals from other cycles, then Goal phase will not be visible in employee portal. But corresponding Goals/Competency will be available for rating in Appraisal Phase. With the introduction of multi-phase reviews we have introduced a new tab called overall result which will provide the average overall score from multiple phases.
4	The user summary PDF is updated to capture the multi-phase review level changes. There is a section for each cycle created in the review.
5	Performance Diary has been updated to cater for the cycle, for which a diary note is being added. Example of diary note against a goal added below.

Feature 2: Check-In Tool: Add note & file against a competency in performance diary

Description: Currently in Acendre Performance a diary note can be added against a goal. We have extended this capability to competencies and now notes can be recorded against both goals and competencies. This feature will provide the ability to capture feedback for metrics against which an employee is appraised.
How this helps: The diary feature can be used in different ways:

Diary notes provide a provision to write down progress or achievements against a goal during the review cycle.
Diary notes can be used as a continuous feedback tool for managers and employees.
Employees and managers can add private notes for their own reference which can be used during check-ins.
The feedback captured against the goal during the year can be used during the appraisal discussion and can facilitate the discussion.
Diary notes can also be used to capture notes during regular employee – manager check-ins and will in turn help in improving engagement.
Employees and managers can upload files against goals and competencies. These files can be certification or any document which aligns with goals and competencies.

How to use the new option

Step Number	Description
1	Navigate to Performance Diary via the employee portal home page or help menu.
2	Create a new diary entry by selecting goal or competency from the type drop-down. Note: The respective goal or competency steps will pop-up once you select the type of diary note.
3	Complete the note information by adding in the details
4	The newly created competency note will be visible against the competency in appraisal phase for employee and manager and in the diary section with edit and delete option.

API Enhancements

Feature 1: Global Assessment API

Description: We are introducing a new API into our API product suite which will allow to send/export information anytime during the assessment process and receive/import information for the sent request.
How this helps: This feature can be used in several different use cases:

Assessment Provider Integration: If a client wants to integrate with their preferred assessment provider, the assessment API can be used in order to integrate with the third-party assessment system to send candidate information for required assessment and receive respective scores against the candidate(s). This integration, once in place, will make the assessment process seamless and will make Acendre the single source of candidate information.
Background Check Integration: If a client wants to integrate with a background check provider and perform checks like police verification, criminal check etc, the assessment API can be used to integrate with the preferred third-party background check provider and receive results which would aid in decision making while progressing candidate(s) in the assessment process.

What we will do: If you are interested in understanding how you can benefit from the global assessment API, please contact your client success manager.

Feature 2: Workflow Identifier and Search API

Description: We have extended our application identifier and search API and introduced a new API endpoint – workflow identifier and search endpoint which will provide the ability to search for any workflow in the Acendre product suite. For example: requisition, jobs or reviews.
How this helps: This feature can be used in the following ways:

If a client uses a different system for approvals of job posting and then raises the requisition in Acendre recruitment system. The workflow identifier and search API can be used to return the status of the corresponding workflow.
This API can also be used to get the status of any Acendre workflow for tracking purposes.

What we will do: If you are interested in understanding how you can benefit from the workflow identifier and search API, please contact your client success manager.

Fixes

Acendre Recruitment

1. GSD-3650: Some referees were experiencing form display issues when completing the referee form from the referee portal for older versions of Internet Explorer. The display issue has been resolved and the referee form is now correctly rendered in all supported browsers.
2. GSD-3431: Changes to Seek account numbers for job board accounts did not update corresponding configuration records required for posting job ads to Seek. The issue has been resolved and job ads can now be posted to Seek after updating the account number.
3. GSD-2463: Updates to job reference numbers were not reflected in the "My Recent Items" widget on the dashboard. The issue has been resolved and updates to job reference numbers are now correctly reflected in the widget.
4. GSD-2605: Special characters used in referee forms were causing issues generating referee reports, preventing reports from being attached to candidate application forms. The issue has been resolved and special characters are now supported in the referee report.

GSD-3396: Merge documents could not be created when the selected merge document template contained group question merge tags. The issue has been resolved and group questions can now be used in the merge documents.

GSD-3088: An audience type issue was discovered for several clients whereby the correct jobs were not displaying on a particular audience type. The issue has been resolved and candidates are able to see the correct jobs displaying in the candidate portal based on audience type.

GSD-3656: It was found that data was not always updating correctly across the system on a candidate's profile when the single instance feature was being used. This has been rectified and the information now updates across the system as expected.

GSD-3702: When viewing the Job Overview on requisition and job details forms, the WYSIWYG editor was displaying HTML code to users. A fix has been applied and the text in the WYSIWYG editor is displaying correctly.

GSD-3746: When attempting to extract candidate files it was found that the email type did not have an associated 'mime-type' when the client queried our API. A script has been executed and the 'mime-type' file type is now accepted in the API.

GSD-3928: In some situations, users reported screens becoming unresponsive and seeing an empty dropdown box appearing at the top of the Acendre Recruitment system. An update has been applied to the user interface to resolve this issue.

GSD-4153: When users were creating ad-hoc user emails, a bug was found where the newly generated email was saved as a template. A code fix has been applied to ensure that these emails are marked as non-templates.

GSD-4192: Candidate responses to free text questions containing a single 'less than' symbol (<) would have all following text removed when exported to Excel. This was due to the system treating that text as code to be removed and has been resolved by applying a condition-based code fix.

GSD-4328: Candidate personal details on the candidate card sometimes failed to populate and display immediately. An update has been applied to the system data population logic and the candidate details are now pre-populating as expected.

GSD-4408: When a calendar field was used in a form, the value field was not wide enough to show the full date. The text label and width for the date input type box has been adjusted and the calendar is displaying the full value.

GSD-4668: Clients reported an issue with the Single Sign-On function which was caused as part of an upgrade. A code fix has been applied to ensure that the users can log in via SSO successfully.

GSD-4712: An issue was found where API exports in CSV format had the incorrect date formatting, causing integrations to fail. Amendments were made to the sending service and date formats are now correct in CSV files.

GSD-4713: The 'Matches' column in the Talent Warehouse failed to return matched values when a talent search was performed. A code fix has been applied to ensure that the 'matches' column now returns correct data.

GSD-4702: Users found that they were unable to delete a sourcing audience from a job. This has been fixed to ensure that users can now delete a job audience from the sourcing tab.

GSD-4722: An error exception was displayed when users added filters to the advanced search in requisition, job and candidate lists. This error has been resolved and users can now add filters when using the advanced search function.

Acendre Performance

GSD-3695: The caption search functionality did not return a comprehensive result set, which prevented searching on some captions unless the exact caption name was used. The issue has been resolved and the caption search now performs a complete search across all caption attributes, including caption name, value, and description.

GSD-2893: When running reports in Acendre Analytics, multiple positions (including non-current ones) would be linked to users. This caused an issue where reports held large amounts of data and users would not be able to open them. A code fix has been applied to the database to only display a user's current position.

GSD-4763: An error exception was displayed when users attempted to access Acendre Analytics. This issue has been resolved and users' access has been restored.

Acendre Release Notes July 2019 -- Version 5.4 & 5.5