Combined Employee Center release notes for upgrades from Xanadu to Zurich

Consolidated page of all release notes for Employee Center from Xanadu to Zurich.

How to use this page

To help you prepare for your upgrade, we have combined the cross-family Employee Center release notes onto one page. Read this summary of the new features, changes, and updated information for your product from Xanadu to Zurich.

Tip:

If there were no updates for a release notes section in a certain family release, we included a short note for your reference. For example, if a product did not have any updates in Tokyo, the row says "No updates for this release."

Important information for upgrading Employee Center to Zurich

Before you upgrade to Zurich, review these pre- and post-upgrade tasks and complete the tasks as needed.

Release	Release notes
Xanadu	No updates for this release.
Yokohama	No updates for this release.
Zurich	No updates for this release.

New features

Between your current release family and Zurich, new features were introduced for Employee Center.

Release	Release notes
Xanadu	Accelerate news article creation with reusable articles Create news articles faster and more efficiently by leveraging prebuilt reusable articles within content templates. Reusable articles offer a predefined content layout into which content authors can input text and images. Content engagement Gather feedback on content: Employees can engage with news articles by selecting a reaction icon, leaving a comment, or sharing the article. Managers can view metrics for employee engagement with an article such as the number of views, shares, and reactions. Employee Center Pro Kiosk Empower deskless workers with simplified access to important information related to their job through a kiosk that provides self-serve opportunities such as: Access shift and time-off details. Get queries answered with the help of AI Search. Track the status of requests. Provide enhanced Employee Center Pro kiosks that can highlight targeted communication and self-service content. Leverage guided help links that make the kiosk environment accommodative and easy to navigate. Guided Self-Service in Employee Center Provide employees with an intuitive, visual, Q&A-based experience for self-serving on highly used complex topics such as time off balance through GSS. Content operations dashboard View engagement metrics for published content, manage the content publishing calendar, handle incoming content requests, and review the ownership for pages and widgets through the Content Operations dashboard. Content Analytics support for Content Publishing View data visualizations of performance metrics for content published to the portal or the Now Mobile app using a publish plan or content schedule. Access metrics such as the most-clicked content, most-clicked notifications, number of user interactions by content, and task status. Enhanced copy-paste options in Rich Content Editor Copy and paste formatted content into the Rich Content Editor while retaining the original source formatting or paste the content as plain text that matches the formatting of the destination text box. Integrated service and experience feedback in Now Mobile Access feedback functionality more easily through the Experience and Service feedback functionality in Now® Mobile. Create rich content from portal widgets Create or edit content directly from the Employee Center portal pages. Hide parameters in the Rich Content Editor Content administrators can configure content rendering parameters for hosted videos to be hidden in the Rich Content Editor so these parameters can't be modified by users. New campaign demo data for Content Experiences Access example campaigns to better understand campaign structuring, explore sample bundle trigger configurations, and discover possible use cases. Quick start tests for Employee Center After upgrades and deployments of new applications or integrations, run quick start tests to verify that Employee Center works as expected. If you customized Employee Center, copy the quick start tests and configure them for your customizations.
Yokohama	Favoriting topic pages Enable one-click access for employees to their most frequently accessed topics through topic pages added to the Favorites widget. Single-click taxonomy sync Sync taxonomy updates across Advanced Portal Navigation hierarchy levels with one click. Guided Self-Service enhancements Admins can provide more detailed answers or guidance to a Guided Self-Service response by adding rich media, including images and videos and formatted text. Employees can review and edit their previous responses. Employees can search for and discover Guided Self-Service processes using AI-powered search. Enhanced apps discovery and visibility preferences (Employee Center Pro) Employees can search for authorized work applications using the AI-powered global search bar. Appointment booking with HR representative (Employee Center Pro) Employees can schedule in-person or virtual appointments to get help through a quick link in the Mega Menu or Quick links widget. Rich Content Editor updates (Employee Center Pro) Build more visually engaging content in microsites and news through additional formatting elements including bulleted and numbered lists, table or grid layouts, and accordion lists. Portal shortcuts for content authoring (Employee Center Pro) Content authors can now easily edit or create news articles and banners using shortcuts in the Content Experiences or News widgets. The system auto-generates publishing plans, streamlining content delivery to the selected widget and reducing the effort needed for configuration. Integrated experience and service feedback (Employee Center Pro) Set a rating threshold that automatically generates a feedback task. Receive feedback tasks from negative feedback submitted through Now Mobile®. Receive automated email notifications when feedback tasks are completed. Track your feedback responses through the Feedback Analytics dashboard for portal, email, Virtual Agent, kiosks, and Now Mobile®. Live company events hosting and communications framework (Employee Center Pro) Live company events can now be hosted directly in the Employee Center Pro portal, with prebuilt configurations to streamline the pre-event communications and handle traffic surges. Content authors can easily create and share event content using the drag-and-drop Rich Content Editor, combined with mass-publishing capabilities similar to news articles. Improved topic search ranking The Topic content search widget now ranks topics based on user clicks, improving the relevance of search results and making it easier for employees to find their frequently used topics. Quick start tests for Employee Center After upgrades and deployments of new applications or integrations, run quick start tests to verify that Employee Center works as expected. If you customized Employee Center, copy the quick start tests and configure them for your customizations.
Zurich	Zurich Patch 1 Check latest company news and events Use the Company News and Events AI Agent to enable employees to check their company-related news and any upcoming events using the Now Assist in Virtual Agent. Now Assist for Employee Experience Summarization skill Enable a summary of the request, requested item, or case for approval task using Now Assist for Employee Experience. The skill provides a summary of the selected item from the available list that you want to work on. Zurich Early Availability Now Assist for Employee Experience plugin Enable employees to resolve and approve tasks easily through chat conversation using the Now Assist for Employee Experience plugin with Now Assist in Virtual Agent. Browser Extension for Employee Center View and manage content and other company resources through the Browser Extension for Employee Center. Access the extension as a pop-up window, or select the Browser Extension for Employee Center icon on the portal to open it in a new page. Enhanced Requests Experience Enhance the My Requests experience with features like easy segmentation, filtering, and keyword search. These features create a dynamic and scalable experience on the Employee Center portal for your admins, service, process, and experience owners. Portal performance optimization Control how your portal pages load, such as all at once or as needed, by using the new deferred and lazy load preferences. Lazy loading is enabled by default and displays content dynamically, reducing page load time. High-traffic experience Communicate the information about heavy usage and slower network conditions during high usage scenarios, such as live events and major announcements. Taxonomy and connected content Streamline the cleanup and syncing of outdated or invalid content, helping admins maintain a high-quality, well-performing portal with less manual effort. Mega menu load Load the Mega Menu in the background to speed up home page interactivity and enable your users to engage with visible content faster during first-time visits. Notifications for Employee Center enhancements Get Notifications for Employee Center in Content engagement that is available with Employee Center Pro. For more information, see Employee Center Pro release notes. Quick start tests for Employee Center After upgrades and deployments of new applications or integrations, run quick start tests to verify that Employee Center works as expected. If you customized Employee Center, copy the quick start tests and configure them for your customizations.

Changes

Between your current release family and Zurich, some changes were made to existing Employee Center features.

Release	Release notes
Xanadu	Content Analytics Content Analytics is now part of the Platform Analytics Experience. When you navigate to All > Content Analytics > Dashboards, the Content Analytics dashboards are displayed alongside Platform Analytics dashboards. Experience and Service Feedback Access the following enhancements within the feedback functionality: Leverage three different types of feedback - Experience, Service, and Survey feedback to gain more insight from your users. Integrate the experience feedback response with the Success Dashboard indicators. Configure service feedback to keep it anonymous after feedback is submitted. Access Experience and Service Feedback in Virtual Agent assist. SharePoint Online Search Connector Enhance your Microsoft SharePoint experience with the following upgrades: Streamline the site permissions and other granular access controls. Grant permission and provide access to specific personas.
Yokohama	No updates for this release.
Zurich	No updates for this release.

Removed

Between your current release family and Zurich, some Employee Center features or functionality were removed.

Release	Release notes
Xanadu	The Content Publishing and Content Experiences demo portals have been removed.
Yokohama	No updates for this release.
Zurich	No updates for this release.

Deprecations

Between your current release family and Zurich, some Employee Center features or functionality were deprecated.

Release	Release notes
Xanadu	No updates for this release.
Yokohama	No updates for this release.
Zurich	No updates for this release.

Activation information

Review information on how to activate Employee Center.

Release	Release notes
Xanadu	Install Employee Center plugins by requesting them from the ServiceNow Store. Visit the ServiceNow Store website to view all the available apps and for information about submitting requests to the store. For cumulative release notes information for all released apps, see the ServiceNow Store version history release notes.
Yokohama	Install the Employee Center plugin by requesting it from the ServiceNow Store. Visit the ServiceNow Store website to view all the available apps and for information about submitting requests to the store. For cumulative release notes information for all released apps, see the ServiceNow Store version history release notes.
Zurich	Install Employee Center by requesting it from the ServiceNow Store.

Additional requirements

If any additional requirements were introduced or changed for Employee Center we have noted them here.

Release	Release notes
Xanadu	No updates for this release.
Yokohama	No updates for this release.
Zurich	No updates for this release.

Browser requirements

If any specific browser requirements were introduced or changed for Employee Center we have noted them here.

Release	Release notes
Xanadu	No updates for this release.
Yokohama	No updates for this release.
Zurich	The Browser Extension for Employee Center is only available with Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge browsers.

Accessibility information

Review details on accessibility information for Employee Center, such as specific requirements or compliance levels.

Release	Release notes
Xanadu	No updates for this release.
Yokohama	No updates for this release.
Zurich	No updates for this release.

Localization information

If there are specific localization considerations for Employee Center we have noted them here.

Release	Release notes
Xanadu	No updates for this release.
Yokohama	No updates for this release.
Zurich	No updates for this release.

Highlight information

If there are specific highlight considerations for Employee Center we have noted them here.

Release	Release notes
Xanadu	Increase operational efficiency by field workers and shift workers by providing in-context information with the Employee Center Pro Kiosk. Gather quick feedback from the users on their user experiences and their service experiences with Experience and Service Feedback. Streamline the SharePoint Online Search Connector site permissions and other granular access control. Enable employees to engage with news articles through reactions, comments, or sharing the articles. Access content management tools from Content Publishing, Content Analytics, and Content Governance plugins in the Content Operations dashboard. See Employee Center for more information.
Yokohama	Resolve tasks created from submitted negative feedback with the Integrated experience and service feedback functionality. Enable employees to seek assistance through virtual or in-person appointments, or by joining walk-up queues for immediate support. Host live company events seamlessly in the employee portal with streamlined pre-event communications and a drag-and-drop editor for easy content creation. See Employee Center for more information.
Zurich	Zurich Patch 1 Enable employees to check their latest company news and upcoming events using Now Assist in Virtual Agent with the Company News & Events AI Agent in the Now Assist for Employee Experience. The AI Agent displays a list of all the latest news and planned events in the company. For more information, see Check latest company news and events. Employees can check all their to-do tasks and pending approvals using Now Assist in Virtual Agent for Microsoft Teams. Enable a summary of the request, requested item, or case for approval task using Now Assist for Employee Experience. The skill provides a summary of the selected item from the available list that you want to work on. For more information, see Now Assist for Employee Experience Summarization skill. Zurich Early Availability Use the Now Assist for Employee Experience application so that your employees can have a seamless conversational interaction with Now Assist in Virtual Agent. View and manage content and other company resources through the Browser Extension for Employee Center. Improve the My Requests experience with adoptive and scalable enhancements. See Employee Center for more information.