Introducing V12 - Latest Version of the Elcom Digital Experience Platform

elcom flower

You, our customers, drive our product releases.

At Elcom, we're constantly striving to improve our platform and provide the best possible experience for our users. That's why we're excited to share that our product team have been hard at work, taking on board your feedback and incorporating these ideas into the new version of the Elcom Platform, V12.

Whether it's improving the user interface, adding new features, or enhancing existing functionality, we are committed to delivering a platform that meets your needs and exceeds your expectations.

We've designed V12 to work smarter for administrators, faster for publishers, and seamlessly for end users. With powerful new features and customisation options, you'll be able to create, manage and distribute digital content with ease.

Microsoft Teams

Support remote and hybrid workforces

With the new Microsoft Teams integration, V12 helps to enhance engagement across your workforce. Encourage staff to collaborate and stay connected with the new Microsoft Teams Connector.

Team Channels

Administrators can add Team Channels on relevant sections across the Elcom site such as department specific pages or social communities and configure it to show the Team related to this.

This provides a centralised location for team-related discussions and activities, while ensuring that team members have access to the information they need to effectively perform their job duties. For example, an HR department may have a dedicated Team Channel on the company intranet where team members can discuss recruitment strategies, benefits packages, and other HR-related topics.

My Teams
Within the Elcom site, staff can now see the Teams they are a member of, providing them with easy access to the various channels and conversations relevant to their work. Staff can easily send and receive Teams messages in real-time to and from Team channels housed within contextually relevant pages on the Elcom site, improving communication and collaboration among colleagues.

My Teams Files and Channel Files

One of the key benefits of using Teams within the Elcom site is the ability for staff members to access and collaborate on files with ease. Staff members can see all files from channels they are a member of, as well as channels for a specific team. This allows them to access and download content with each other through Team Files or Channel Files - all without leaving the Elcom site.

User Presence
We've also built additional integration to make it easier for staff to contact the right person at the right time! Administrators can enable a user's Teams presence/status to be shown in the Corporate Directory module. This means that once a user finds the right person to contact, they will be able to see if that person is available to respond to their request and launch a Teams chat with the user by opening the Teams app via a link.

Data Insights

Uncover hidden insights

Elcom’s new out-of-the-box feature, Data Insights, turns your data into real-time, dynamic and highly configurable dashboards. You’ll have access to a visual representation of your site's usage so you can quickly uncover helpful insights, easily report on usage and implement improvements to site engagement.

Administrators can add page elements that visually display data based on site usage by logged in users. The following page elements can be used to create dashboards:

Content Overview

Make it easy to understand publisher and user engagement over time with the following page elements:

Content Activity: See article content activity over time for article views, article edits, articles added and articles deleted. This is a useful tool for seeing whether users are viewing articles and how this is trending over time, as well as whether publishers are actively managing articles on the site.

Content Created: Discover how many new articles and documents were created over time. This is a useful tool for seeing whether publishers are actively creating articles and documents on the site or whether it no longer contains relevant content.

User Overview

Get valuable insights into user behaviour and identify power users to promote your site with the following page elements:

Logged in users: View logged in users vs not logged in users over time. This can help you understand how engaged your users are with your site. If you see a high number of logged in users over time, this could indicate that your site is providing a valuable service to your users and that they are returning to your site frequently to access content or complete tasks.

Top Logins: Keep tabs on which of your staff or members login the most. This can help you understand who your most engaged and valuable users are. These users are likely to be your most loyal and engaged users, and may be more likely to recommend your site to others or become advocates for your brand.

Top Contributors: Monitor top contributors to your site. This provides insights into potential power users who could serve as ambassadors to promote usage of the site. These users may be willing to share their experiences with others, promoting your site to a wider audience and helping to build your brand and community. In addition, top contributors can provide valuable feedback on the user experience and functionality of your site.

Visitor Overview

Monitor the overall performance of your site with the following page elements:

Site Visits: Track the number of site visits over time. This data can help you identify whether users find your site valuable and useful to continue visiting. One of the primary benefits of tracking site visits is that it allows you to monitor the overall health of your site. If you notice a decline in site visits, this could be an indication that users are finding your site less valuable or that there are issues with the user experience or functionality.

Forms

Calculated Field Enhancements

Capture more details

Take advantage of the calculated field enhancements found in Elcom’s powerful Form Creator tool.

The calculated field in forms now supports additional calculation types; multiplication, division and subtraction. In addition to this, multiple calculated fields can be used on a form to build up advanced calculations as needed.

This opens up the possibility for forms to be created with more advanced calculations. For example, Finance departments can use the tool to create an expense claim form, making it easy to capture details required to reimburse employees for business-related expenses.

Form Templates

Streamline form creation

With V12's Form Templates, you'll save time and boost productivity.

We understand that organisations often use the same form or a similar variation of forms within and across the business. In V12, we’ve streamlined the process of publishing new forms further by introducing the concept of form templates. Any form can now be saved as a template to be re-used as needed when creating new forms, making forms a more powerful, time-saving tool than ever.

Experience v12

Publishing

Defined Content Enhancements

Template-powered content creation

V11.5 introduced the concept of defined content to make article publishing even easier.

Non-technical users can quickly change a layout with the new Defined Content Article feature, by dropping a commonly used template of code on a page, such as an accordion, list of links or tiles with static data; all without having to work with a content editor. V12 now supports top and bottom HTML, as well as file uploads in defined content templates.

Auto Archive

Say goodbye to stale content

Over time as your site evolves and more content is added, there is the risk of it becoming cluttered with outdated information. In V12, the auto archive feature has been introduced at the folder level to automate the management of stale content.

Articles and documents from a folder can automatically be moved to a different folder for archive purposes. This automated process can be scheduled in the way you want based on several criteria. For example, publishers can specify that all articles older than X days should be moved to the "Archive" folder on a daily basis. This simplifies the process of keeping your site updated and clutter free.

Experience v12

Notifications

Notifications Framework

Never miss an update

Make sure people never miss an important update with the new Notifications Framework which presents a consolidated view of everything you need to action. Setup notifications for administrators to review content, departments to approve forms, end users to respond to social mentions and more. This framework visually displays a feed of all notifications that the logged in user must action. Users can see their top 10 most recent notifications, as well as a paginated listing of all notifications.

The Notifications Framework supports multiple types of notifications:

Workflow approval for forms and content
Content review
Social mentions and upvotes
Content alerts the user is subscribed to

Notifications for Content Reviews

Keep content accurate

Content governance is an important part of maintaining a site with valuable and accurate information.

Elcom’s Content Review enables you to set content reviews for each article or document to ensure it is reviewed on a regular basis by a specified reviewer. In V12, notification email support has now been added for article and document content reviews. This means it is easier than ever for the right people to be notified to review content when they’re not logged in to the Elcom platform.

Experience v12

Security and Performance

What makes Elcom so powerful is the ability to extend on the existing capabilities of the platform with pre-built integrations to third party systems and applications.

At Elcom, we take security and access seriously. Your site is home to your organisation’s documents, communication, business processes, staff details and more. In V12, we’ve made further updates to enhance the security of your platform, as well as ensure it can be accessed by your end users. Major third-party components have been upgraded to their latest versions including Telerik, TinyMCE, SCORM and SAML.

We know speed is key for your audience who don't have time to wait around. So, we have also refactored our core page life cycle resulting in overall faster page loading performance.

v12

Two Factor Authentication

More granular security

An extra layer of security can be added to the login process with Two-Factor Authentication (2FA). 2FA requires a user to enter a secure pin or use an authenticator app in addition to their password, protecting private account information from external threats. In v12, for accounts that are managed within Elcom (not via SSO), administrators can be more granular with which groups they apply 2FA such as the administrator group.

HTTP Response Caching

Boost site speed and efficiency

Response caching reduces the number of requests a client or proxy makes to a web server, making the response faster and reducing the load on the server used. We’ve added additional configuration options to simplify the setup of third-party response caching providers such as Fastly, CloudFlare and CloudFront.

Here’s what you can expect:

A logged in cookie can be configured within Elcom to let the cache providers know when response caching should/should not be used
A response cache duration can be configured letting the cache provider know when they should refresh their cache
These settings can be configured globally and overwritten at the folder level

Note: Response caching only applies to anonymous users.

Experience v12

Design and Development

WCAG 2.1 AA Support

Make your site inclusive

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, often known as WCAG, is an internationally recognised benchmark for measuring the accessibility of websites. The objective of these guidelines is to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities.

We take accessibility seriously and in V12, the majority of the HTML generated by Elcom core components are now WCAG 2.1 AA compliant.

Note: User generated content must be managed to ensure that it is accessible to the required degree.

Mega Menu Enhancements

Create beautiful menus

Not surprisingly, mega menus are growing in popularity. They are particularly valuable for sites with several categories and subcategories, as well as for displaying lower-level site pages all at once. This helps people discover more content without the need for scrolling and searching through the site.

We’ve now made enhancements to HTML menus to simplify the process of implementing mega menus – This means that mega menus can be implemented on your site faster and are much easier to maintain.

You’ll also be able to add additional content such as pictures and icons when appropriate to visually represent each navigation item and further engage your audience.

Experience v12

Mobile App Framework

Bring your intranet, website or portal experience into a dedicated mobile app and take engagement to a whole new level. It’s now easier than ever to build a dedicated mobile app with a framework of mobile app specific APIs.

These APIs can be used to streamline the process of creating custom mobile apps so you don’t have to start from scratch, fast tracking the build process.

Article PDF endpoint

A new API endpoint that can return a PDF copy of a given article
This can be used to implement access to offline content via downloading PDF copies of articles

Widget endpoint

A new API endpoint that can return paginated data for a given dynamic widget
This can be used to display the metadata returned by a widget natively in a mobile app

Mobile App Authentication

An API endpoint that provides a mobile app specific token that can enable auto login with an extended session expiry

Experience v12

Additional Enhancements

Recycle Bin Enhancements

Recover documents and folders

The Recycle bin feature has been enhanced to support not only the deletion and recovery of individual documents and images, but also entire folders. This means that if a folder is accidentally deleted, all its contents can be easily restored from the Recycle bin, making it a more comprehensive and powerful tool for managing content on the site.

Payment Gateway

Secure and seamless Stripe support

By adding support for Stripe, Elcom now enables its users to seamlessly integrate Stripe's payment processing tools into their online businesses. This makes it easier for businesses to accept and manage online payments securely and efficiently.

Stripe provides a variety of payment options, from Alipay and WeChat Pay to Apple Pay, allowing businesses to accept payments from customers across the globe. Additionally, Stripe's advanced security measures, powered by machine learning, help to reduce the risk of fraudulent activity while maximising the conversion rates.

Reporting

More flexibility with reporting

With the latest updates, the reporting feature on the platform now offers more flexibility and control to its users. Specifically, users can now apply more filters and parameters to the existing reports, making them more targeted and personalised.

This means that users can access and analyse the data they need in a more precise and efficient manner, gaining better insights into their website's performance and making informed decisions.

With the additional filter options, the reporting feature has become a more powerful and flexible tool, enabling users to customise their reports to their specific needs and preferences.

V12 Strategic Incremental Releases

The work never stops in the Elcom team.

Since the launch of V12, we’ve also delivered strategic incremental releases which contain a new base feature, module or connector and/or significant enhancements to existing ones.

incremental release v12

OpenAI powered content creation

Crafting content that genuinely connects with diverse audiences is no small feat. Between finding the right tone, words, and ensuring accuracy, the to-do list seems endless.

Add to this the pressure of catering to a multilingual audience, and the task becomes even more daunting.

With Elcom’s new OpenAI Connector, you can access our AI Content Creator to write, edit and translate content within seconds.

From writing detailed narratives to providing quick content outlines, the Open AI Connector enhances the quality of your writing, ensuring consistency across grammar, tone, and style.

Find out more: OpenAI connector

Unlock SharePoint within Elcom

The Elcom SharePoint Connector unifies two powerful systems, transforming your team's workflow by streamlining processes and enhancing efficiency.

Incorporate the contents of a SharePoint shared documents folder on any page within your intranet, making it easier for employees to find, use and/or edit important documents within contextually relevant pages.

Create a unified search center, making it faster and more efficient for employees to find with they’re looking for with real-time SharePoint document search within Elcom

Incorporate SharePoint security permissions to ensure relevant employee access.

Find out more: Sharepoint Connector

Enhanced Workflow Transparency

Approvers can now visually see exactly what content was changed in articles when approving them via workflow, similar to version control.

This feature works seamlessly with our OpenAI connector, highlighting any content changes generated via the connector.

Improved User Profile Settings for the Social Module

Users can now easily switch off email notifications related to post votes or mentions directly from their my page settings.

Elcom V12 is here!

You, our customers, drive our product releases and we’re excited to share the latest version of the Elcom Digital Experience Platform!

You, our customers, drive our product releases.

See V11.5 in action

Support remote and hybrid workforces

Team Channels

My Teams Files and Channel Files

Uncover hidden insights

Content Overview

User Overview

Visitor Overview

Top content

Forms

Capture more details

Streamline form creation

Publishing

Template-powered content creation

Say goodbye to stale content

See V11.5 in action!

Notifications

Never miss an update

Keep content accurate

Security and Performance

What makes Elcom so powerful is the ability to extend on the existing capabilities of the platform with pre-built integrations to third party systems and applications.

More granular security

Boost site speed and efficiency

Design and Development

Make your site inclusive

Create beautiful menus

Mobile App Framework

Article PDF endpoint

Widget endpoint

Mobile App Authentication

Additional Enhancements

Recover documents and folders

Secure and seamless Stripe support

More flexibility with reporting

V12 Strategic Incremental Releases

The work never stops in the Elcom team.

Since the launch of V12, we’ve also delivered strategic incremental releases which contain a new base feature, module or connector and/or significant enhancements to existing ones.

OpenAI powered content creation

Unlock SharePoint within Elcom

Enhanced Workflow Transparency

Improved User Profile Settings for the Social Module

Elcom delivers engaging web solutions for intranets, digital workplaces, websites, portals and learning management.