Release Notes: Version 7.75

Version 7.75 of the EchoSpan platform is available starting on June 27, 2020. This release includes new features and enhancements to our 360-degree feedback tool, employee engagement module, administrative system and reporting suite. As always, new features for the 360 tool are included at no additional cost in their respective EchoSpan editions.

Brief summaries of the new features and enhancements are below. Once the release is published, we'll make additional documentation on each of these items available in the product guides. You can also sign up for a live session to review the new features with one of our client managers on July 14th at 2pm ET, or July 16th at 9:30am ET.

Thank you to all of the program administrators who offered suggestions and feedback that helped us identify these enhancement opportunities. We're grateful for the perspective that you offer in continually improving the EchoSpan platform!

7.75 Release Highlights
(P= Professional Edition, E = Enterprise Edition, A = All Editions)

Item and Feature Enhancements

• Forced Rank Item Type (P,E) : We've added a forced rank item type that will enable participants to rank choices entered into the system by the administrator. This can be effective for gathering input on where to focus individual and team efforts.
• Formatted Text Paste Behavior (P,E) : Raters often draft written feedback comments outside of the application (using Word or other applications) and paste them into the EchoSpan tool. We've added a feature under the Advanced Settings that enables project administrators to determine how text is formatted by default when it gets pasted into the system. Sometimes, pasting formatting elements can interfere with or adversely alter report display (font colors, font sizes, tables). For this reason, by default, all pasted comments are converted to plain text, but may be formatted after they've been entered into the application.
• Queue All Email (A): It is now easier to quickly queue email for users from many places in the admin tool. On the Target and Rater management pages, emails for all eligible participants can be queued with the click of a button as opposed to queuing page by page. The new "Create Email Messages Now" feature has also been added to the email template editor. These features limit the number of steps required by an administrator in creating messages for their 360 feedback and employee engagement surveys.
• Project Sort Options (A): admins can sort projects in a number of ways within the admin tool, including most recently accessed. This can be helpful in accounts with a large number of projects and administrators.

Reporting Enhancements:

• Forced Rank Item PDF Component and Data Export (P,E) : we've added an editable PDF report component as well as a data export that are compatible with the new forced rank item type.
• New Hidden Strengths and Blind Spots Setting (P,E) : this setting enables the admin to hide the Hi/Lo/N columns from appearing in this report component.
• Detailed Group Report Export (E): this new export includes all scores for the selected group report segmented by Target and then by item, competency, super-competency and overall. The detailed group report export is available for up to 7 days in excel or csv format after a group PDF report is created.
• Behavioral Anchor Report Optimization (P,E): we've added an option to the Individual Review Items Enhanced component that enables the display of behavioral anchor scale labels in the report when this type of item is included in a review.
• New Raw Response Data Export Option (P,E): we've added an option to select a specific question for output rather than export the entire set of survey questions.

Once released, the version 7.75 update is automatically applied to any new, blank project you create. You can also update an existing project by opening the project and clicking Upgrade Project in the top right of the project's homepage. This option will only be visible if an update is available for that project. Upgrades are available to clients without existing customizations. Note that if you clone a project that uses an older version of code, the new project will also be based on the older code and require a manual update.

As always, we appreciate your feedback on our product and services. Please remember that we offer a question and answer session each week that is an open forum for customer questions. One of our Senior Client Service Managers leads the interactive session and will address any product questions you have. You can sign up for these recurring weekly sessions below:

Thank you for choosing EchoSpan for your employee feedback and review needs!