SOAR

While we have been quiet for most of the year, we have been very busy !

As we progressed on our way toward our 2011 goals we had to stop and work on a number of issues that came up with the release of Internet Explorer 9 and Firefox 5. While working on those it became very clear that getting the new Event Signup in place as early as possible was a customer priority. To accomplish this, we put the Roster work on hold in the spring and moved right into Event Signup enhancements.

We are pleased to announce that on Wednesday September 8th you will receive the following updates.

Event Signup V2

The 9/8 release will contain an all new Event Signup Type called “Consolidated”. This new method of signup will do the following.

1. You can choose to Register (which has more options) or simply send Regrets (that you cannot attend)
2. If you are using a shared account, it will let you select either a Scout or Adult’s name.
a. Those using individual accounts will already have their name selected and will skip this step
3. You will then be given a registration screen that will contain EACH member of your family
a. You can can simply indicate Yes/No for attendance as well as notes for each member
4. The Attending List will then show both Registered and Regrets, allowing better event management
a. Sort by Last Name, Registration Date, Scout or Adult, Family and Den/Patrol

Options Include
• Same options as before
• Allow registration of Guests – Yes/No *NEW*
• Limit registration to Dens/Patrols tagged – Yes/No *NEW*
• Parents can register Scouts – Yes/No *NEW*
• Assignment of Event Administrators *NEW*
• Single price per family *NEW*

With the core of the new Event Signup in place and tracking attendance of each member, we will be able to add the following features after the fact without interrupting use of existing event registrations
• Email List for those Attending
• Email List for those who have not registered (attending or regrets)
• Excel export of information
• Configurable registration questions
• Additional pricing options, including PayPal fee

On 9/8 you will be able to choose from 3 different types of Event Signup
• By Family old
• By Individual old
• Consolidated *NEW*

We will leave ALL three choices in place until December 30th to allow customers to get used to and roll out the new Consolidated Event Signup.
• After December 30th, all new Event Signups will be of the type Consolidated
• Event Signups created before December 30th of the old type will continue to run until the event occurs.

Other Updates

Other things that are included in the September 8th release are

- Updates for Internet Explorer 9 and Firefox 5. These two major releases have caused issues for many. We have done a lot of work to adjust our service to avoid the current IE9/FF5 issues.
- Rich Text Editor – spell check, advanced bullets, advanced cut/copy/paste, and undo/redo
- Automatic Teaser Fix – in the past it was possible for the Teaser Break (automatic or manual) to allow “leaking” of HTML onto the Home Page. This has been fixed.
- Photo Upload Tool – updated version that is code signed by SOAR. No more authorization screens !
- Domain Name Tool – add/change/remove domain names from your SOAR website on your own.

What is coming after the 9/8 release

We will immediately be moving on to add iCal (calendar sync) support before the end of 2011.

In addition, we will be working in parallel on additional options for the new Consolidated Event Signup that will be released throughout the remainder of the year.

Once iCal is released, we will have an update on where the Roster enhancements and other feature additions will be scheduled in 2012.

What do I need to do?

1. Postpone creating as many Event Signups as possible until after 9/8
a. The sooner you use the new Consolidated version the better

2. Create a test Consolidated Event Signup after the release and get used to the new process and features
a. It should be more intuitive to your members, but you will still need to understand it