Highlight features

Portal pass invites with Zapier

Portals can now send portal pass invites to their company network via Zapier to help automate this process with any external tools already being used to bring companies into your ecosystem.

• Easily integrate with 1000s of external tools to bring your company network into your private Riipen network

Getting Started Reminders

All users will receive more content-rich emails when a project starts, including what to expect and what next steps should be taken.

• Employers will be told what to expect from learners reaching out to them to start their project
• Educators will be reminded of important dates and how to onboard their learners to Riipen
• Learners will be told how to reach out to their project's employers and get the ball rolling

Improvements

• As a member of a company with a portal pass, I see a portal pass success screen for the current portal when I accept my portal pass
• As a member of a company, when my portal pass application is automatically accepted, I am now redirected to the portal pass success screen
• As a member of a company, the portal pass granted email I receive now contains a link to the success screen
• As a portal administrator, I can edit the content in the informational notice on the portal pass success screen
• As a portal administrator, I can list portal pass invites via API
• As a portal administrator, I can get a portal pass invite via API
• As a portal administrator, I can create portal pass invites via Zapier.
• As an employer or an educator, I can share any feedback I receive on LinkedIn
• Conversation preview UI update used in various page sidebars
• Updated Team Final Submission Email subject line
• Updated the agreements panel on the team page to say "Agreements" instead of "Getting started"
• Modified column display on smaller screen sizes for match request table
• Removed team members list in the team page overview tab sidebar
• Content and copy refreshed on “experience starting soon” emails with what to expect/do for all users
• Small UI updates to the Teams Table

Bug fixes

• Member request with already accepted member request but no member would fail silently
• Portal pass success screen showing 0 recommended experiences when 1 or more exist
• Learners may receive a "Failed Dependency" error when trying to add their payment info.

Highlight features

Maximum end dates

Educators are now able to set a global maximum end date for their experience.

• Maintain the flexibility of allowing dates to be set by learners or employers, while enforcing program requirements via a maximum end date for all participants. Learn more

Custom instructions for new portal pass recipients

When a company is granted access to a portal via a portal pass, they now see a custom screen providing instruction on next steps.

• Provide content recommendations from the portal for the user
• Let them know what their portal pass gives them access to do, and suggested next steps
• Customize content on this screen through portal settings. Learn more

Access to team-employer conversations for educators

Educators can now set experiences to provide them with either view-only or membership access to conversations between teams and employers.

• As an educator this allows you to keep tabs on conversations as needed to provide support or ensure regular interaction is occurring
• All participants are informed of this access at the outset of the conversation

Improvements

• When a pending match revision exists, this is now the employer's default view of the match request so they have immediate access to accept/decline buttons
• As a learner, I should be able to view the milestone attachment added by the educator on the standalone milestone submission page.
• Learners now see informational text on the project page explaining how to join
• Learners can now see when viewing a project whether they already have a pending application to it.
• The chatbot reminder message in match request conversations now states whether both parties need to take action or just one. It now links to the match request page, as well.
• Feedback wizard text has been updated to more clearly state who you're currently giving feedback to.
• Rich text editor spacing display: the spacing of text entered in the input now more closely aligns with how it displays to the end user to improve user experience across all types of written content creation.
• As a learner, I should receive a second kickoff reminder email if my team or I haven’t started my project yet.
• When applications are 'Open' but not available to the current user, a notice now explains why.
• Update to final submission panel on team page to include a header and show custom description when one exists.

Bug fixes

• Message component grows in width when long unbroken string is included in preview
• Profile about panel grows in width when long unbroken string is included in bio field
• A portal that has the open marketplace disabled should only have /search/portal/projects in the nav bar
• As a learner, if an experience is set to “Unique learners per matched project” and I am already in a team on that match, “Apply” should not be visible to me.

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Highlight features

Answer match requests from your dashboard

Answer match requests more efficiently and see at a glance where action is required. By adding the ability to accept or decline requests from the dashboard, we allow educators and employers to act more quickly to respond to other users who are interested in matching with them.

Link back to context in conversations

Across all conversation types, we’ve added more events that help give discussion about the conversation taking place. These events have been updated to be more descriptive and link back to the activity referenced.

Improvements

• Learners are now required to provide date of birth at sign up in order to collect parental consent for users under 18
• After signing an agreement a user is now redirected back to the agreements tab to complete other agreements they may need to sign.
• UI update to social network links on user profile to make them more consistent with other elements, and more prominent
• UI improvement to content recommendations page following experience or project publication to make these more visually appealing
• As an educator, when viewing a project page, the “Your latest matches” & "Pending requests" sections now have “View all” CTA so that an educator can see all their past interaction with that project
• An educator who joins an experience after a match request was created is now automatically given access to existing match request conversations.
• The “Matches” table on an experience now has the Application status and Categories filters always visible to improve ease of use.
• As an educator, I should see a “Surveys” tab on the Team > Members > Member detail page so I can see what surveys each member has completed.
• When I receive an email notification about a new match request, the email now contains the full overview of the project or experience that is requesting to match with my content.
• When I receive an email notification that I’ve been awarded an achievement, the email now contains the full description of that achievement.
• When I receive an email notification that a user has requested to join my portal, company or experience, the email now contains all the details of that user’s request.
• When I receive an email notification that a learner applied to my project, I can now see the full content of the application in the email.
• As the recipient of a survey, I can now complete the survey through the unique link in my email notification without logging in.
• Learners now receive a more descriptive reminder email to start a project, which includes recommended next steps.
• When a meeting is booked via Google Meet or Zoom integration, the ICS file sent with the email notification now pre-fills that videoconference link in the location field.
• Projects that have promotional content for a company rather than a true project scope are now automatically flagged for review using AI.
• An educator can now send project proposals that include all main project details fields, including the skills and mentorship fields.
• A learner can no longer create a new application to a project they’ve already joined, unless this is explicitly enabled by the experience.
• The email notifying a user of a new invitation now includes in the subject line information about what the user is being invited to.
• As a learner, I should be able to start my project by replying to the reminder email in most circumstances.
• As a learner, I should be notified via email if another member of my team has started our project.
• The project kickoff panel of a team page should have a header to be consistent with the style of other panels on the page
• Update subject line of unread message email to indicate which conversation it refers to

Bug fixes

• Error ordering learners table on feedbacks average
• When editing a survey the title field is not filled in
• Message formatting issues - reply via email, signature not being stripped out
• As an employer, I should not be able to submit match request custom questions if a required question is left blank.
• Department name not showing cases
• In match revision page, when "Unpaid" is default selection the payment amounts are shown
• A user who clicks on an invitation link that has already been accepted should see a descriptive error message
• Password change should expire all existing sessions for that user
• Post-project surveys are able to be completed before submission if submission and survey date are the same
• Company switcher logo is being resized incorrectly when company name is long

Latest updates from Oct 26 - Nov 23 on Riipen.

Highlight features

Reply to messages via email
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Want to respond to another user on Riipen without leaving your email inbox? This is now available to all of our users.

• You can hit respond on any unread message email notification to send your reply from the comfort and convenience of your own inbox.
• Maintain the privacy and centralization of communicating through Riipen: other parties in the conversation will not see your email address, but will view your message both in-app and via email notification.

Visit the help article to learn more about this feature.

Submit project milestones and final deliverables via email 📩

For learners, the reply by email feature is extended to the ability to complete project milestones and the final submission by replying to the reminder notification emails.

• Learners can submit their project milestones and deliverables via email
• Learners can reply with a description of their submission and any related attachments and have the status of their project updated in-app with this information.

View overall company network for a portal

The “Companies” tab of a portal now includes a list of all companies the portal has matched with, in addition to showing (as it has to date) the companies who’ve been issued a portal pass to join the portal.

• Gain a better picture of your overall company network size and scope.
• Select any company to see their published projects, the ones they’ve specifically promoted to your portal, and any past matches with experiences in the portal.
• Propose a new project, request to match with an existing one, or leave notes for other administrators.

Under “Portal content” in the main menu, select the “Companies” option to see this updated data.

Improvements and bug fixes

Improvements

• When creating a custom survey you can now mark it as “required.” Required surveys will block a user from completing any later actions on a project until they’ve answered the survey.
• Surveys can’t be completed until the user is in the appropriate stage of the project. Mid-project surveys are now blocked until the user has started the project, while post-project surveys are blocked until the final submission has been made.
• Surveys now have titles to help administrators and respondents distinguish between them and easily understand the survey’s purpose.
• Employers can now see any pending requests they have with an experience they are currently viewing..
• Employers are automatically redirected to the private marketplace when their portal pass application is accepted
• A user who is inviting a new member to a team can now search learners who are members of the experience, in addition to inviting via email.
• The “Teams” table now includes a feedback score column, so that everywhere teams are listed you can easily see whether feedback was already given, and what the overall rating was.
• The automated prompt that nudges users to respond to match requests after 5 days of inactivity now sends only to users who have not yet interacted in the chat.
• As an educator, I can now create a team directly from a match page, under the “Teams” tab.
• Attachment links are now included directly in unread message email notifications so a user does not need to visit the platform to view an attachment.
• All members of a team now receive a confirmation email when a milestone is submitted.
• Employers can now review a team’s submission (milestone or final deliverable) directly from their email, as the full description text and attachments are included in the email notification.
• Educators can now create custom achievements for participants in a single experience, not only portal-wide.
• Users can now earn achievements for completing specific surveys.
• Titles in the marketplace can now show up to 2 lines
• The team page steps (start project, complete milestone, complete final submission) now have a unified style to improve the clarity of expected actions on the team page.

Bug fixes

• "Upcoming events" in dashboard were not consistently listed in ascending order
• Invite modal crashing when no emails entered and submit button pressed
• Employer unable to accept a match request when verification is required in specific circumstances
• Learners can't make a submission when a required employer survey has not been completed
• A user’s average feedback score should recalculate when feedback is edited
• Search page resets to first item in list on clicking "back"
• Projects displayed on learner profile includes all applications
• Unable to change language setting from English to French
• Error creating survey instances for a team when dates are added or edited after team creation
• Learner does not advance past verification screen in some circumstances
• Match request and match page does not reflect compensation amount set in match request wizard
• Requests and matches count not displaying consistently in marketplace

New features, improvements and bug fixes released on Riipen from Oct 5-25.
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Feature

• Basic navigation has been updated for all users to make it easier to find your profile, the option to switch portals or companies, and the marketplace. Overview here.

• As an educator, I can now limit the number of teams a learner can join under one experience. Learn more

Story

• As any user, I should see the link to sync my calendar to an external one from the calendar page. On your calendar page (accessed via calendar icon in top navigation bar) you will now see the "Sync calendar" link above the calendar which provides the option to add your Riipen calendar to iCal, Outlook calendar, Google calendar or other tools.

• As a survey creator, I can add introductory text for respondents to explain the purpose of the survey or provide instruction.

• As the recipient of a meeting invitation, I should have the meeting automatically added to my calendar. When a meeting is created on Riipen, all participants receive a confirmation email which has an ICS file attached with the meeting details. In Gmail, this lets the user add the meeting to the calendar in a single click from their email. The handling of these files vary by email client, but all have a way to make these easily turned into calendar events.

• As an educator, I should have access to a survey summary page for each survey. For every survey on a portal or experience, you can now view "Replies" (individual responses) and "Summary" as additional tabs on the survey page. Summary provides an overview of the responses received to easily see what the trends are in your survey.

• As a meeting participant (pending or accepted), I should receive a reminder email before the meeting starts

• As a user viewing content in the marketplace, I should see existing matches and requests. You may notice now when viewing experiences and projects in the marketplace, you'll see if you have pending or accepted requests with that particular content.

Improvement

• A team member cannot complete milestones or the final submission without having started the project first.

• Everywhere teams are listed, it is possible to filter them by "Status" (not started, in progress or complete).

• Reorganization of experience settings items to better group the most commonly accessed items at the top and move functionality used by a minority of users to the "Advanced" section. Updated help article

• "Enable learner member requests" is now un-checked by default on new experiences.

• Employers can see whether or not they've provided feedback to a team directly from the team table in their dashboard or match page.

• Reorganization of portal settings for more logical grouping of related settings.

• Learner worklogs (time tracking) are disabled by default on new experiences but can be turned on via experience settings.

• Events in chat conversations related to milestone and final submissions should link to the submission page.

• Conversation details pane update: Each conversation in your Riipen message inbox has a conversation details pane; this has been improved to work across different screen sizes and show relevant context based on the conversation type. On large screens, the details pane is always visible. On smaller screens, access it by clicking the 3-dot menu at the top of the conversation and clicking "Content details"

• Request table modification: Based on user feedback that the 'View' icon on request tables was too small/subtle, this has been removed and the first column of information in the match request table is now clickable instead. This brings the user to the match request page.

• As a member of a company without Portal passes permission, the UI should prevent me from attempting to apply for a portal pass

• In the team creation wizard dropdown of matches, show "{Company name} - {Match name}" rather than "Project name" to make it easier to identify the correct project.

• Add program code to experience cards and experience pages.

Fixed bugs

• As an educator, I should not see "Request match" on a project that is promoted to a marketplace outside my workspace.

• Events should not appear on a learner's Riipen calendar for teams they were not accepted for

• Reports menu item not visible to some users with reports access

• Time zone not being set on user account at sign up

New features, improvements and bug fixes released on Riipen from Sept 27-Oct 4.
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Story

• As a portal admin or experience admin, I should be able to see responses to surveys when viewing any learner member of my portal or experience.

• As any user, I should be able to add rich text to messages (hyperlinking, bulleted and numbered lists, etc)

Improvement

• Update style of rich text editor in messages

• Replace terminology project/experience with employer/educator in request table activity column for greater clarity

• Add program code to experience page

Fixed bugs

• Message input was not always fixed at the bottom of the conversation pane

• Error viewing post notification when post doesn't exist anymore

• As a learner, I should see the notice "Sign agreements to unlock the matches" only if I am a member of the experience

New features, improvements and bug fixes released on Riipen from Sept 14-27.

Feature

• Binding deadlines - As the administrator of an experience, you can now opt for deadlines to be binding for participants. If this setting is enabled, you can set an optional grace period as well. Once the deadline plus the grace period has passed, student teams can no longer proceed with the project. For experiences with strict requirements on timing, this allows you to enforce those deadlines automatically, with built-in reminders.

• Two-sided application acceptance - If you are using the "applications" feature, as an educator, you can now choose to enable two-sided application acceptance. If active, this feature will require the team to confirm or cancel following the employer acceptance of their application.

Improvements

• Messages layout update: the message "sidebar" with context on the conversation is now available on a wider range of screen sizes, and opens up in a modal for smaller screens. The message header is more descriptive and now lists the members in a conversation. Stay tuned for more messages updates next week, with improvements coming to the content of that messages sidebar.

• Update to applications table to show whether team has confirmed or not following employer acceptance.

• Update icon used to represent achievements from "trophy" to "award" for better consistency of iconography.

• As an experience admin, I should be able to add default application screening questions for learners on matches where applications are required.

• As an employer, I should see a notice on the match request page when a match request has expired that prompts me to close my project.

• Category colours have been updated to provide better contrast between categories.

• Show completed variant of the survey panel for completed surveys

• As an educator, I should be able to invite learners to my experience via a modal: from the Learners tab of the experience, click "Invite" and you'll now see a dropdown of options to create teams, invite to experience, or copy instructions. This makes the process for "invite to experience" shorter for educators.

Bug fixes

• Clear all doesn't reset checkbox filters

• Employer is not able to sign agreements

With Riipen 2.0 having now been up and running for 5 months, we've collected a huge amount of user feedback on the new platform experience, with positive feedback on usability and new features.

We found a few opportunities to improve ease of use based on user feedback.

These include:

• Making the option to switch your active workspace (portal or company) more prominent
• Better separation of your own content versus your portal or company's content in the main navigation menu
• More intuitive navigation to profile links
• Make the marketplace link more prominent.

We're happy to let you know these changes will be in place in October 2023.

• All users will now be able to switch their currently active portal from the portal logo in the navigation bar:

• Employers will now see their active company and be able to switch this from their main navigation menu:
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• All users will see a better visual separation between their own content and their portal or company's content:

• All users will find their profile link in the user menu located in the top-right of the screen:

• Employers and educators will now find the marketplace option as a button in the top nav bar:

• Learners who have not yet joined an experience will find all experiences for their portal under the "Find experiences" button in the top nav bar:

• Learners who have already joined an experience will see the option to find others under their "My Experiences" page

New features, improvements and bug fixes released on Riipen from Aug 24 - Sept 13..

Today's update spans the last three weeks and includes a long-awaited new feature (custom surveys) and many quality of life improvements for all users.

Feature

• Custom surveys - As a portal admin, I can add custom surveys to be administered across all experiences in my portal. These can be sent pre-experience, mid-experience, or post-experience at configurable times. They can be required or optional, and include all common survey question types. The same functionality exists for educators to add surveys to their own experience. Surveys can be sent to both learners and employers. Learn more

Improvements

• Users, companies and portals now have more granular control over privacy settings for their profiles and their content. Learn more
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• The match request table now includes an activity column to indicate the status of both the project and experience's acceptance of the request.
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• The project marketplace can now be filtered by the Cause a project supports.
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• The experience "matches" table can now be filtered by the Cause a project supports.
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• A user who is invited to the platform via email now has their email address pre-filled in the sign up form.

• The feedback standalone page now includes the year feedback was given.
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• Users can now filter their conversations by the conversation type, and by the associated portal, company, experience, project or team.
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• The portal Learners table can now be filtered by location, average rating, and profile categories.
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• When an archived conversation receives a new message, the conversation becomes un-archived.
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• The project marketplace can now be filtered by company size.

Bug fixes

• On mobile, dropdown menus would remain open after the user made a selection. This is now fixed.
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• If the user does not have permission to view the conversation associated with a match request, the message icon is now hidden from from the match request table.
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New features, improvements and bug fixes released on Riipen from Aug 2-23.

Today's update spans the last three weeks and includes two exciting new features and several small improvements.

Feature

• Agreements - an educator can add custom agreements to their experience, which must be accepted by employers and/or learners who participate. This can be used for program terms and conditions, intellectual property agreements, and other instances where participants must agree to terms beyond Riipen's standard terms and conditions. Learn more
  The same functionality exists for employers to add agreements to projects; these are accepted only by learners who work on the project. Employers may use this feature for (for example) non-disclosure agreements. Learn more.

• Posts - As an educator, I can now post an update to my experience to notify all matched employers and/or all learner members about important info related to the experience. See help article

Improvements

• As an educator, I should see a notice on the match request page when a match request has expired that prompts me to close my experience.
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• As an educator, I should see a notice on the match request page when a match request is accepted that prompts me to close my experience.
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• Preserve capitalization in custom portal language
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• Update to timeline and criteria for automatically closing projects: projects are now closed after 50 days of inactivity; project admins are warned at 40 days

• As any user, I should be able to see a 'Supported causes' section on the project page if a cause was added via the project wizard "tags" step

Bug fixes

• The cancel button when saving a search becomes white on hover (not visible)
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• Location not mandatory on /companies/new
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• “Projects from open marketplace percentage can't be blank” error in experience wizard
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• Password changing bad request
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• Match Request page content overflows

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