We are thrilled to be back with another exciting release for Employee Center. The February 2024 release will cover enhancements for Employee Center, Employee Center Pro, SharePoint Online Search Connector, and more.
This article summarizes the key new features and enhancements included with this release including:
- New capabilities:
- Integrated experience and service feedback
- Enterprise video communications with pre-built Vbrick integration
- Dotted line relationships
- Exciting enhancements:
- More granular controls on the Rich Content Editor
- Out-of-the-box filters for Concur and Workday tasks
- Selective indexing and permissions for SharePoint Online Search Connector
- Support for right-to-left languages
- E-signature available on My Tasks page
Download the latest Employee Center (version 32.0.3) and Employee Center Pro (version 30.0.4) from ServiceNow Store to get access to the features and enhancements.
Note: The February 2024 store release apps are backward compatible with Utah Patch 10 and Vancouver Patch 5.
1. Integrated Experience and Service Feedback (requires Employee Center Pro)
Organizations can continuously improve their employee experience with our new Integrated Experience and Service Feedback capability. It enables experience owners and service managers to capture in-the-moment feedback at critical touchpoints, spanning portal pages, mobile screens, service workflows, and email notifications. Furthermore, they can analyze the feedback using purpose-built dashboards.
Below are the details on the individual components of the new feedback capabilities:
- Experience Feedback – There are two new widgets available out-of-the-box to capture portal experience feedback across pages. First is a configurable Drawer “Give Feedback” widget, which is a great way to capture generic user feedback across all pages on the Employee Portal. The Drawer widget also captures additional context by recording the page URL parameters along with comments. Second, is an in-page widget, which admins can place within a specific portal page to capture feedback on it, for example capturing feedback on a newly designed Microsite.
Admins can configure to exclude the drawer feedback widget when alternate feedback capture methods, such as the in-page feedback widget, are used. Admins or users, either one can choose to anonymize feedback responses, ensuring flexibility in the feedback collection process. Admins can also configure the feedback question text and format as per the organization’s preferences.
- Service Feedback - Admins can now gather feedback at various touchpoints throughout the service workflow, with easy configurations for trigger conditions and question selection. They can also enable in-line feedback in any email notification, empowering users to provide actionable feedback without leaving their inbox.
Like in experience feedback, admins can configure the feedback question text and choose from a variety of response options, including 5-point scales, 3-point emoji scales, or simple thumbs up/down scales. Admins or users have the option to anonymize feedback responses, adding an extra layer of privacy.
Additionally, with cross-channel feedback tracking, users are spared from feedback fatigue by ensuring they aren't inundated with redundant feedback requests across different channels.
Below screenshots are examples of service feedback enabled across the workflow:
Note: Service Feedback via email notifications will be available with Outlook Actionable Messages store application (version 4.1.5).
- Experience and Service Feedback Dashboard – Our new dashboard for analyzing Feedback tracks both experience and service feedback responses. Admins can effortlessly track aggregate ratings for feedback over time. They can dive deeper into feedback responses by channel (i.e., whether from the portal or email), by page, and by rating. With this dashboard, organizations can gain a comprehensive understanding of feedback received and draw insights that can easily translate into continuous improvement.
How to get access? – The Integrated Experience and Service Feedback enhancement is available by upgrading the Employee Center Pro application (version 30.0.4). For configuring Service Feedback via email notifications, organizations would need to install the latest Outlook Actionable Messages store application (version 4.1.5).
Note:
For experience feedback, all deployments will have the drawer widget enabled upon upgrade/first install. However, the in-page widget is only pre-enabled for new deployments (i.e., first install), for upgrade scenarios admins will need to manually place this widget on the portal at the designed locations via the page designer.
For Service Feedback, admins will need to enable and complete the full configuration upon upgrade or new installation, as they don’t come pre-enabled.
Refer to Employee Experience Feedback product documentation for additional details.
2. Enterprise video communications with pre-built Vbrick integration (requires Employee Center Pro)
Organizations can now share secure enterprise videos, including live meetings such as All Hands and townhalls, directly on their Employee Center Pro portal. We've developed a comprehensive framework that supports direct integration with enterprise video hosting providers, such as Vbrick, Microsoft Stream, and Brightcove. Additionally, this framework includes a pre-built integration with Vbrick (offered as a separate store app built by Vbrick)
As part of the pre-built integration, content authors can effortlessly search for available Vbrick videos directly from the Rich Content Editor, without the need to log in separately to Vbrick. They can seamlessly embed secure videos into communication content such as Microsites and Employee News, and users can access the videos, directly in the portal, without having to re-login. This not only enhances the content creation process but also ensures that video access is aligned with the intended audience, providing a richer communication experience for employees.
Details into the Enterprise Video Communications Framework – Organizations can extend the framework and custom build the integration with their desired enterprise video platforms, such as Microsoft Streams or Brightcove, similar to the pre-built integration with Vbrick.
Below are the three key components of the framework:
- Application Layer: At the application layer, we've implemented configurations within the Content Publishing application to facilitate the embedding of videos within Microsites and News Articles through the Rich Content Editor. No change would be required here to extend the framework to other videos provides.
- Configuration Layer: The configuration layer plays a pivotal role in determining registered providers, authenticating authors, and defining workflows and actions associated with video integration. This layer ensures seamless integration by providing essential functionalities such as search and browse capabilities within the video library interface.
- Flow Integration Layer: Integration Hub would be needed for integrating the Authorize and Search flows with the service provider. Organizations can tailor integrations to their specific needs by designing these flows and sub-flows for authentication and video search/browse functionalities through the flow designer, like what has been done for Vbrick. These sub-flows will call the provider API to facilitate authentication and video content retrieval. Additionally, integration properties need to be configured, including Connection Alias and HTTP connections which is essential for establishing communication with the video provider service.
Note: The integration with MS Stream and Brightcove is not delivered out of the box, organizations have the flexibility to build the integration on their own.
How to get access? - Enterprise Video Communication enhancement is available by upgrading the Employee Center Pro application (version 30.0.4) and Content Publishing application (version 31.0.3). To get the pre-built integration with Vbrick, organizations would need to install the Feb’24 Vbrick application (version 1.3.0) to get this enhancement which is available via ServiceNow store.
Refer to Video Hosting Integrations Framework product documentation for additional details.
3. Dotted line Relationships (requires Employee Center Pro)
Organizations with complex reporting structures, including mixed hierarchies of direct and dotted line managers, can now seamlessly navigate and visualize these relationships within ServiceNow.
With this release, admins can assign ‘other managers’ to map a dotted line relationship for the employee. They can model many-to-many dotted line relationships between employees and secondary managers. Each of these relationships can be assigned a relationship type, such as shift supervisor or line manager. Supervisor and Shift Supervisor relationship types come pre-configured with this release.
Once configured, employees and managers can easily access and view these relationships directly within Employee Profile (under my teams) and Org Chart page views. In both these pages, the direct and dotted line relationships are clearly displayed, along with reporting count, providing comprehensive insight into the reporting structure.
How to get access? - The Dotted Line Relationships enhancement is available by upgrading the Employee Center Pro application (version 30.0.4) and Employee Profile (version 10.0.1).
Refer to Other Manager Relationships product documentation for additional details.
4. More granular controls on the Rich Content Editor (requires Employee Center Pro)
Based on the feedback received from content authors, we have made a series of minor yet impactful enhancements to the Rich Content Editor that promise to make content creation process similar and faster.
Below are the new control options available on the Rich Content Editor:
- Clear button for instantly removing all contents from the Canvas
- Improved copy & paste functionality for pasting formatted content from other sources
- Auto-aligning images and video elements left, right, or center with precision
Additionally, authors can now view and edit HTML/CSS source code directly within the editor, either at the element level or for the entire canvas. To avoid the risks associated with unrestricted access to source code, we’ve implemented a platform-level sanitizer that raises an error if it detects an issue with a potentially harmful scripting, although specific details about the problematic code may not be provided. Admins also have the flexibility to enable or disable access to source code as per their security preferences.
How to get access? - The Rich Content Editor enhancements are available by upgrading the Employee Center Pro application (version 30.0.4) and Content Publishing application (version 31.0.3).
Refer to editing source code in the rich content editor product documentation for additional details.
5. Out-of-the-box filters for Concur and Workday tasks (requires Employee Center Pro)
In 2023, we introduced the Approvals Hub capability with a pre-built integration with SAP Concur and Workday. This helped improve employee productivity with streamlined access and completion of approvals. With this release, we have introduced pre-configured filters for Concur and Workday tasks.
Approvers can now effortlessly prioritize approval tasks such expense reports or time off, focusing on what matters most at any given moment. Admins can configure filters at the level of individual task types for Concur and Workday tasks, based on the granularly needed for their organization.
How to get access? - The Task type filters for Concur & Workday approvals are available with Employee Center Pro license by upgrading the Approvals Hub integration with SAP Concur application (version 1.2.1) and Approvals Hub integration with Workday application (version 1.0.4) respectively.
Refer to Task filters on My Tasks product documentation for additional details.
6. Selective indexing and permissions for SharePoint Online Search Connector (requires Employee Center Pro)
Many organizations are enhancing employee productivity with an Enterprise Search experience on their employee portal, using the pe-built SharePoint Online Search Connector. In this release, we're introducing finer control and flexibility for admins to configure the integration with SharePoint Online precisely to their needs. Below are the added configurations:
- Flexible permissions: Admins can now set the permissions for Read only or full control for the sites that they index.
- Selective Indexing: Admins can curate the content available on Employee Center Pro by excluding specific URLs or subsites within a site from indexing, ensuring only the most relevant information in available as search results.
- Index published versions: Finally, to enhance both the security and efficiency of the SharePoint search, now only published files are indexed, ensuring that only verified and finalized versions are accessible rather than drafts or unfinished documents.
Below screenshot depicts how these additional configurations can be setup for SharePoint Connector:
How to get access? - The SharePoint Online Search Connector enhancement is available with Employee Center Pro license by upgrading the SharePoint Online Search Connector application (version 5.0.2).
Refer to SharePoint Online Search Connector product documentation for additional details.
7. Support for right-to-left languages
Organizations that are based in regions with right-to-left (RTL) languages can easily localize their Employee Center experience. With this release, we have enabled arrows and dropdowns across multiple widgets to support RTL language standards. We have also addressed alignment issues, for example text overlapping with buttons, faced with RTL languages in the portal navigation.
Note: Auto-translation of Employee Center into Arabic languages is coming as part of the Washington DC release.
How to get access? – The Employee Center support for right-to-left languages enhancement is available by upgrading the Employee Center application (version 32.0.3).
Refer to Employee Center support for right-to-left languages product documentation for additional details.
8. E-signature available on My Tasks page
ServiceNow’s e-signature functionality is now seamlessly integrated into Employee Center’s My Task experience. Admins can now effortlessly configure and enable e-signature for any task type on Employee Center, ensuring an extra layer of security in the approval process. Approvers can approve or reject tasks only by re-entering their login credentials, guaranteeing thorough review and accountability.
How to get access? - The e-signature for my task enhancement is available by upgrading the Approvals with e-signature platform application (version 2.0.0) and Employee Center application (version 32.0.3). Note that e-signature for my tasks does not require Employee Center Pro license.
Refer to configure e-signature for approvals product documentation for additional details.
What to know what lies ahead? Join us for Employee Center Confidential Roadmap Webinars to stay tuned on the latest advancements and insights on how to make the most of our enhanced features and capabilities.
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