Help…Me…Please!

Whoa! Wait!

a “help desk” is a service that provides information and support, especially within a company?

It functions as a resource intended to provide the customer or internal user with information and support related to a company’s processes, products and services. The purpose of a help desk is to provide a centralized resource to answer questions, troubleshoot problems and facilitate solutions to known problems.

Did you also know that there is a variety of Central UA email help desks available to you where you can ask questions, request information, schedule processes, and/or provide input related to your daily job tasks and responsibilities? Here is a rundown on our current Central UA help desks. Note: I will not publish the links on this site, however, links to the help desks are found on the Canopy under the Help! Tab.

ADVHelp (Owner: IT in ITEA)
For assistance with IT (computer, network, hardware, software) problems, services, and/or technology-related issues.

ADVRequest (Owner: SEA in ITEA)
For questions related to ADVANCE access and training, programs (e.g. CDIStributor, Gift Acknowledgements, etc.), online giving page requests, surveys/update forms, standard and ad hoc reporting, and general system related questions, enhancements, process consultation, troubleshooting and support. (My all-time favoriteJ💖!)

ADVResearch (Owner: P2D)
For requests for prospect research (e.g. background information, estimated gift capacity review, philanthropic history, etc.), requests for prospect lists (e.g. donor prospects who appear to have specific funding interests or reside in certain geographic areas), and help with anything related to assigned prospects (including all concerns regarding assignments and proposals).

ADVCGI (Owner: CGI)
For information or questions regarding constituent or gift data. Constituent data includes address, email, phone, employment, name change, marriage, divorce, communication preference, alert, affiliation, etc. Gift information includes at any point in the electronic workflow.

ADVSolicitation (Owner: CGI)
If you have a complex solicitation request, solicitation questions, or proposed materials to submit. The Solicitation Approval Request Form is used for submitting new requests.

ADVAdvancementOutreach (Owner: Strategic Engagement)
For questions and concerns regarding email communication reports and list builds. The Communication List Build / Review Request Form can be found on the Canopy under UA Engagement>Communication Resources>Email Strategy & Guidelines>List Request and Approval Form.

If you have trouble remembering what each help desk is responsible for, you can now hover over the name and the description will appear.

REMEMBER…

UA staff – that you have “at will” access to a plethora of resources. The Canopy may even provide some answers to your questions prior to you needing to use the Help! Tab. Take some time and review what it has to offer. You will be impressed!

Non UA staff – that you, too, have limited access and have probably already received the link to the specific resources within the Canopy that support your job responsibilities. If you need further assistance with access to these specific sites, please contact ADVRequest.

So…no need to pull your hair out!

We got you!!

Janet Meine

“DO YOU WANT TO BE ADDED TO THE SEEDED LIST?”

If you’re utilizing ADVANCE for any communication purposes, you’ve likely heard some form of this question before. More times than not, responses to this question consist of looks of bewilderment – “The what list?”

What exactly is the “seeded” list and what does it do?

The seeded list is simply a list of internal users who have requested to be included on all communications of a certain format (email or mail), type (newsletters, solicitations, invitations) and/or group (college/unit or CSU). Those on the seeded list are seamlessly included on these communication pieces without any additional action taken on behalf of the creator of that message.

Why would anyone want to receive every email or mailing?

“Seed” lists are pretty common in the direct marketing world. One clear benefit is ensuring necessary parties are “in the loop” on all upcoming communications without having to constantly worry about including the right people on the right type of messages. By indicating what YOU would like to receive, this process guarantees you’re aware of activity relative to your role, such as upcoming events, college-specific initiatives, or general news-related updates.  It is also an indirect way of monitoring what your area (or an area that directly impacts your role) is sending throughout the year.  This can help minimize catching others up or having to send out additional copies of communications when referencing them down the line.

Do I need to be on the seeded list to receive my emails?

No. CDIStributor automatically sends a copy of every email to the owner of that email.

Are there any negatives to being on the seeded list?

While it may seem beneficial to see all the communications activity within ADVANCE, there are some potential reasons why this may not be a suitable option for you.

Some things to consider:

• Irrelevant or non-applicable content: Alumni and friends often receive communication pieces based on their affiliation or engagement with the University. We often include merge fields to tailor these messages to reference data specific to the recipient. Since seeded list recipients don’t always have the same affiliation or engagement, that data may not be available to feed the merge fields. This may cause your specific message to present blank or misleading fields where data is not applicable.
• Overrides special handling (mail only): If you are on the seeded list but also have personal special handling on record for that same type of communication, your special handling settings will be disregarded and you will receive this communication, however this pertains to mail only. If you have email suppression’s on record and are on a competing seeded list, you will be removed from the email list. For this reason, it’s always good to confirm your personal special handling rules to confirm there are no conflicts.
• Busy inbox:

…millions of emails were sent via CDIStributor each year? If you’re already having trouble keeping up with your inbox, please consider the impact of receiving additional emails as a seeded list participant.

• Qualification: When receiving additional communications, it’s not always evident what you actually qualify for versus what you receive through the seeded list and there have been many instances where seeded list participants have forgotten that they were on the seeded list. For example, are you actually being invited to a certain event, or is this because of the seeded list (i.e. “Why did I receive this invitation for former CSU athletes when I never participated in CSU sports? The system must be broken?” You may need to reference the mailing log (seeded individuals do not show in email metrics) or reach out to the communicator if there is any confusion.

If there are any concerns about the above considerations, it may be better to reach out to project coordinators or communicators to ask to be included on specific communication pieces.

What seeded lists options do we offer?

We have a variety of seeded list options spanning various colleges/units, as well as some overall options for CSU level communications. Please contact ADV Request if you have specific questions and we can help find the most appropriate list(s) for your needs.

Can I exclude the seeded list from my communication?

Yes!  You can control this setting on your Ad-Hoc report (for mail or email lists) or through CDIStributor. This allows either the person creating the Ad-Hoc to control this option, but may also be decided by the author/content creator at the time the email shell is being created.

• To exclude via your Ad-Hoc report, go to your report Settings → More Settings → Settings – General → Excluded ‘Seeded List’ (select Yes)
  • Note: If you exclude via Ad-Hoc, this setting will freeze in your CDIStributor email builder.
• To exclude via CDIStributor, uncheck the “Include Seeded List” checkbox and click ‘Save’.

How do I know when to exclude the seeded list?

You generally do not have to worry much about excluding the seeded list, as these individuals asked to be included on communications of this type. However, there may be some scenarios that warrant exclusion:

• Multiple Segments
  • Email: If you have multiple email segments with roughly the same message, you can consider excluding the seeded list on all but one of these. However, those on the seeded list may be interested in seeing all versions, so please use your discretion when making this decision.
  • Mail: If you have multiple mail segments being sent, this will generate an additional mail piece for each person on the seeded list. As you can imagine, a mailing with 6 segments would generate a considerable amount of excess mail for each seeded individual. Consider including the seeded list on your largest segment to avoid sending additional mail pieces.
• Reminders or action-oriented messages: If a mail or email initiative also has reminders built in (common with invitations or opt-in pages), you can consider suppressing the seeded list from your 2^nd or 3^rd reminders, or if no new information is being presented.

I want to see everything – how do I get added to the seeded list?

Just email ADV Request and we’ll be happy to discuss your options and add you!

Linda Paule

On the bounce…

we rely on CDIStributor to send millions of emails each year? Last fiscal year alone, over 63,000 emails bounced, meaning the email message could not be delivered. Sometimes it’s simple – the email address doesn’t exist, commonly due to a typo or closed account (as with our students once they graduate). Other times, it may be a temporary issue. So how do we, as an organization, determine the reason for the bounce, and thus decide when this email truly is no longer contactable?

We have determined a point system to help rate the severity of the bounce, thus informing us at what point the email address should be inactivated in our system.  The point allotment is as follows:

• Hard Bounce (3 points): A hard bounce occurs when the message has been rejected because the email address does not exist or is invalid.
• Medium Bounce (2 points): A medium bounce occurs when the mail server cannot be found. This can be a temporary issue with the recipient’s mail server, but sometimes may be the result of a domain that is no longer in existence.
• Soft Bounce (1 point): A soft bounce indicates the email address is valid and reached the mail server, but was unable to reach the email recipient. Common reasons for a soft email bounce include a full mailbox or an inactivated/disabled account.

To minimize the possibility of a temporary issue, only one bounce per week will be added to the point total. Once the email has 5 bounce points, the email is inactivated in Advance. Based on the point system and point threshold for inactivation, it’s helpful to understand that all emails will be attempted at least twice before being marked as inactive.

When an email is inactivated, the system will automatically “promote” the most recently added alternate email address (if available) to become the entity’s preferred email address.

We do not track our bounce points on the profile, but awareness of the underlying process is beneficial as you continue to communicate via CDIStributor.

For questions about email bounces, please contact ADV Request.

Linda Paule

The Domino Effect

 when a University Advancement employee leaves UA, transfers to another UA unit, is reorganized/merged into another UA organizational structure, or leaves the University entirely, that there are a number of processes that ITE and others need to complete in the system before we consider them gone or moved? In other words, it is more than just adding a stop date or move date on their record. Enter the Domino Effect!

The “situation” causing the “effect” is usually a staff member leaving, transferring, and/or merging. This then triggers a series of events that can require additional involvement and processes by Innovation Technology and Education (ITE), Systems Education and Analysis (SEA), Constituent & Gift Information (CGI), Pipeline and Prospect Development (P2D), and potentially others (i.e. HR, ABS, UAVP, etc.). In the examples below, I will only mention what occurs with ITE (SEA), P2D, and CGI. If you add in the processes from the other groups…Whoa!

Below are examples of the domino effect.

Employee leaves UA/University:
This is probably the easiest scenario for us to deal with. An employee leaves the division and/or University. Obviously, there needs to be an employment update made in Advance by CGI. If the person leaving is a front-line fundraiser managing a prospect portfolio, P2D needs to get involved to transfer that prospect portfolio to a “holding” account or another individual until a replacement is hired. In addition, ITE needs to remove the individual from the UA list-serves and collect any unused computer equipment. SEA needs to inactivate the employee as an ADVANCE user, which may entail adjustments to the ADVANCE configuration tool, staff table, and auxiliary program licenses held by that individual.

Employee transfers to another UA unit:
This scenario is slightly more complex and definitely takes on a surgical approach. Although the employee is staying within University Advancement, a number of processes still need to happen to complete the transfer. Again, CGI needs to update their employment record in ADVANCE and update their CGI liaison. ITE needs to move the user to the correct list-serve(s), and may be involved in physical moves and/or equipment transfers/documentation – which can also involve coordination with IT staff in other units when the employee is moving in or out of Central UA. SEA needs to move the employee to the correct user group in the ADVANCE configuration tool. In addition, and will possibly need to adjust their user rights based on the employee’s new job responsibilities, schedule more training, decide what, if any, reports need to follow them to their new position or should stay with their old group, and adjust the staff table and auxiliary program licenses as needed. Again, if this individual is a front-line fundraiser, P2D needs to be involved in the management of that person’s prospect portfolio, which includes the release, reassignment, or hold of their old assigned prospects and the prospects they are set to inherit in their new position. Identifying a specific day for tracking effort in their new position is crucial. Once completed, the employee will appear twice on the Effort Report (tracked effort with old and new groups).

Employee is reorganized or merged into another existing unit or new unit with new name:

WHEW! The “daddy” of them all! This is where it gets a little crazy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(The graph above represents UA groups affected by recent movement/org changes for UA. Last February, Donor Relations, Presidential Leadership, and UA Communications merged with CSU Events to create UA Engagement. In April, Systems Education and Analysis (formerly Customer Support and Training) moved from TMTS to IT, thus creating ITE and renaming TMTS to TMHR. This past month, Annual Giving has merged with Alumni Relations to create Alumni Relations and Annual Giving, and Prospect Development has moved under new leadership and has been renamed Pipeline and Prospect Development.)

So…not only are there a lot of moving pieces here, there are many people involved in those moving pieces. Of course, the processes described above will need to take place in this scenario as well. However, the level of complexity can extend beyond what we know, leaving additional decisions to be made. Decisions such as renaming units, deciding what data sits where and who has access to that data, and how the new structure and its data will be represented in ADVANCE’s Management, Standard, and Ad-Hoc Reports as well as other programs. What metrics stay with the old unit or move to the new one? How is the Incentive Report affected? To finalize these merge processes is not “an overnight thing”. Much thought, planning, and discussions need to take place for successful individual/group related merges within the system.

As you can see, ‘The Domino Effect’ is alive and well when changes are made in the personnel or group structure of any unit or units. Sometimes it can get a little “whacky” but eventually the kinks are worked out and it is smooth sailing…well…until the next change occurs.

Enjoy! (Click on graphic below…)

Janet

Out Of Sight…Out of Mind…

The flow chart above is hilarious! Unfortunately, the feedback we have received over the years is that this, although funny,  accurately reflects the current flow of an email received from Innovation Technology and Education (ITE) or Systems Education and Analysis (SEA).

We recognize that numerous emails can be a time drain that deter you from “important” work; however, it is critical that you are able to recognize the emails from your inbox that will assist you with that “important work”.

ITE and SEA use email as one way to share timely and “important” system information such as the roll out of new programs, enhancements and modifications to existing programs, and critical information related to network security.

Can we get a “WOOHOO!!”?

What Happens in 90 Days?

 that Innovation Technology and Education rolled out a new CDIS (Constituent Data Information System) security policy in July that contained a wide-range of ADVANCE access adjustments to system users. One of the significant changes was the addition of a 90-day inactivity policy where access to ADVANCE is removed from a user after 90 days of inactivity.

Help us, help you!  If you are a casual user of the system, set a calendar reminder to log into ADVANCE every 30 days (or set a schedule that works best for you) if you know you may not be logging into ADVANCE on a more frequent basis.

Systems Education and Analysis receives notice of an expired confidentiality agreement, and notice of an account that has reached 90 days of inactivity. Both of these scenarios will result in the loss of ADVANCE access.

Please keep your account up-to-date and log in as frequent as you can to avoid inactivation.
Thank you!

If you have you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact ADV Request.

Kate Coskrey 

Online Registration Coming Soon!

  that Advance/CDIStiller courses are moving to online registration in MyLearning?  Well hang on… just not quite yet.

So – help us, help you!

To help the Innovative Technology and Education (ITE) team to keep the ball moving towards our launch date (which is soon), you can help us by continuing to submit your Advance access and training requests by the same process as you have used previously – through the Advance Access & Training Request form (located in My Reference of Advance).

Doing so will help our team to be prepared for any learner that registers for training so that they have all of the necessary rights in Advance on the day of their training as granting access takes time and should be done prior to the start of a training.  This will ensure that learners can follow along and have the best learning experience and use of their time as possible.

This is important to know! Once MyLearning registration rolls out for Advance training, we will still require an Advance Access and Training Request form as the first step to registration versus going straight to MyLearning so that we are notified of a registered learner. We want to be prepared and aware for any learner that comes through our door for training and avoid a surprise on the day of training.

As always – if there are any questions about this request, please don’t hesitate to contact ADV Request.

Kate Coskrey

Alumni Non-Graduates

We are so accustomed to communicating with our alumni, but how do we continue to engage those who may have taken a break from school or discontinued their attendance at CSU?

…these are our alumni “non-grads,” a population we’ve always had the ability to interact with on a broad level, but now have more specific data points in place to allow more targeted reporting of this population in CDIStiller.

You can include alumni non-grads at varying degrees of detail:

• Record type: This includes all alumni non-grads, regardless of where, when or what level they were last enrolled.
• Non-Grad Detail: This variable menu will allow you to report on varying levels of intended degree information, similar to what we have for our graduates (division, major, level, degree type, etc.). The majority of variable options are similar to those in the alumni Degree variable menu, with the exception of:
  • Terminal Date: The end date of an entity’s attendance. Most helpful if used with a range of dates.

Please keep in mind – you must use the Non-Grad Detail specific variables to accurately target this audience, as the general Degree table is limited to alumni only.

If you have any questions or need any assistance using this variable in your reports, please contact ADVRequest@colostate.edu.

Linda Paule

It’s the little things…

…the System Education and Analysis (SEA) team identifies  as an important liaison between the front-line users of the system and Innovation Technology (IT) to collect, prioritize, and relay user-suggested system enhancements for CDIStiller and its supporting programs? No really! True story!

In addition, because our team is comprised of system experts as well as “super users”, we also provide IT with suggested enhancements that will assist us in completing your daily ADVRequests. As a result, kylan and his team log and complete numerous system/program enhancements in any given day, month, and/or year.

I would like to share with you three program enhancements that were completed this past month.

Contact Attempt:

…that Contact Attempt has been added as an “Include” item on the ADV Activity Planner report found under the Standard Reports pushpin, Management Reports folder? I didn’t think so! Awesome…yes? In addition, when Contact Attempt is chosen, “Type” and “Outcome” fields appear and add another level of filtering the Contact Attempt information retrieved for the report. Contact Attempt joins Tasks, Proposals, Contact Reports, Events, and Birthdays/Anniversaries (Prospects Only) as items you can have populate your Calendar or List view of the report (Display Style).

As a refresher, here is a definition of a Contact Attempt:
Contact Attempt is entered into the system when a development staff member contacts a person who has not had a back and forth communication in the past year by ANY CSU staff member. We call these “Cold Contacts”. Contact Attempt is a one-way communication (email, phone call, LinkedIn message, mail, text message). A Contact Attempt would not be used if you or anyone at CSU already has a relationship with the contact.

Appeal Code Filter on Transaction Lookup:

…that the Transaction Lookup report located under the Standard Reports pushpin, Transaction Report folder has long been used as a quick way to see what contributions have been posted into the system within a specific time frame? You knew this…right? The prompt window allows you to customize your view of the report by offering selections such as “Include” items, “Communication” items, and “Filter” items. What is new is that IT has added the ability to filter the transactions by Appeal Code. This option joins the already existing filtering options of Division, Department, and Allocation. Keep in mind that you should not use this feature to pull up transactions for All-Time or even “a lot of time” (over a year). This feature can be a handy addition to see how a specific solicitation “campaign” is doing.

Recent Giving on Online Giving Pages:

…that online giving pages (OGPs) created by Systems Education and Analysis can include “basic” funds which are the ones that show on the main page (the Gift tab) of the form, and, “featured” funds that can be added to show up before the “Search” option when a prospective donor chooses to “Support Another Fund”?  No kidding! Wait, there is more! To further customize our prospective donor’s experience, IT has now added the ability to show the OGP visitor their “most recent giving” funds in the dropdown. These funds show up above “featured” funds (if added) and before the “Search” item. Mind blown! To make this work, the prospective donor would need to authenticate through an email solicitation sent with a link that they click on to access the online giving page or come into the page through Donor Connect. We have proactively added this feature to all of our current active online giving pages and the option has now be added to the Online Giving Page Request Form. In summary, two things need to happen for this to work:

• The prospective donor needs to be authenticated by clicking through to the online giving page from a CDIStributor email solicitation or they can be authenticated by logging into Donor Connect prior to going to the giving page
• The page either needs to have the option to “support another fund” or the default fund on the Gift tab needs to be in a dropdown format

If you have any questions or concerns regarding these program enhancements, please contact ADVRequest.

AND…

Keep those enhancement suggestions coming!

Janet