Overview
Vuture's Alumni Website product is an online portal to help manage the relationships between a firm, its staff and its Alumni. The site provides a central directory to find former and current members of staff, promote Alumni events, share information, access news and provide re-recruitment resource.
The platform is fully integrated with Lexis Nexis InterAction CRM to allow for the integration of profiles, security and to decide which content should be shared with an Alumnus.
Site Login
- Access the website through a unique URL by registering a new domain (we can purchase this for you, or you can provide it) or using a sub-domain that you already own e.g. alumni.youraddress.com
- Site operates over HTTPS to ensure login details and personal data are encrypted - an SSL certificate is required for this (we can purchase this for you, or you can provide)
- Public login page with content that can be edited to advertise the site
- Login to the site using email address and password or by using LinkedIn credentials
- Forgotten password link that prompts the user for their email and sends them a link to reset their password
User Registration and Approval
Pre-registration of current staff/professionals from InterAction
- You can select folders from InterAction that contain current Staff / Fee Earners. Users from these folders will be “pre-approved” to access the site. Please note, it is recommended to have one InterAction Folder that contains your current staff/alumni.
- You can use the system to send a pre-approved email to these staff, with a personalized link allowing them to set up their password (if you are allowing them to login using their LinkedIn profile they can also connect their account at this stage).
- The staff member will then be prompted to update their profile for the directory. Content will be pulled from InterAction to prepopulate the profile which they may then edit.
Pre-registration of Alumni from InterAction
- As per the previous section you select the folder(s) from InterAction which contains the Alumni. Please note, it is recommended to have one InterAction Folder that contains your current staff/alumni.
- You can use the system to send a pre-approved email to those Alumni, with a personalized link allowing them to set up their password (if you are allowing them to login using their LinkedIn profile they can also connect their account at this stage).
- The Alumnus will then be prompted to update their profile for the directory. Content will be pulled from InterAction to prepopulate the profile which they may then edit.
Registration through the website
- If the Alumnus/Staff member that is pre-approved for the Alumni site, chooses to register from the login screen (rather than following the link in the pre-approved email) the Alumni Site Administrator will receive an email notifying them that this person would like to gain access to the site. The Alumni Administrator can then send them a welcome email through the Vuture Alumni Site. The Alumnus or Staff member can then click through from the welcome email to set up their password.
- If the registrant is unknown (they haven’t been pre-approved) and they complete the registration form on the site, the Alumni Site Administrator will receive an email notifying them that this person would like to gain access to the site. The Alumni Site Administrator will need to verify that this contact should be part of the Alumni Program. Once verified, they can move the contact into the Vuture Alumni Folder in InterAction, import the contact, and approve the contact in the Alumni Site to send a welcome email.
For more detailed information on registration through the website, please click here.
Suspending users
- At any point you may stop a user's access to the system by clicking on the Suspend User button. You may re-approve a suspended user later.
Manage registered users
Bulk upload of photographs
- Directory profiles will be pre-populated from InterAction. Because InterAction does not allow for storage of images, profile images can be stored in the Alumni site.
- You may bulk upload images to the system and automatically set them against user profiles. Images will need to be named as per the email address of the Alumni. Click here to read about image sizes in the bulk upload process.
Site Search
The site will contain a few search types:
- Site search – allowing a keyword search of all site content
- Person search filtered on Alumni / Current Staff / All
- Alphabetical search on last name
- Advanced person search on profile details (e.g. years at firm / specialism)
Directory / Profile
Directory
- The directory will contain all the approved Alumni users, unless they have opted to not appear in the directory. Content will appear as per the details held in InterAction (or the updated profile information as updated by the Alumnus).
Profile
- The fields available in the Alumni Profile page will be decided by your firm. Some of the fields will relate directly to the contact fields (name/job title etc.) other fields will be held as additional fields in a list (years at firm / law school etc.). Note, it is recommended that we use one InterAction Folder for Alumni. However, if the firm decides they need more than one, for each folder we are connected to (e.g. Alumni, Current Staff) we will need the same fields created.
- The profile image file will be held in the Vuture database not in InterAction.
Editing a profile
- When an Alumnus edits their profile, it will automatically update InterAction, and will follow any DCM (Data Change Management) rules you have in place in InterAction.
- As well as editing their profile, the Alumnus will have the ability to vary what can appear on the directory. Options are:
- Appear on the directory with all information displayed
- Appear on the directory but hide contact information
- Do not appear in directory
Profile updates from InterAction
Moving Current Staff to Alumni and vice-versa
Controlling which fields appear on a user's profile page
- Your firm can decide which fields should appear on a user's profile page. This will be configured as part of the initial setup of your Alumni site.
Improving profile page performance by caching data in Vuture
- If required, we can cache the profile page locally to improve page loading speed. This will be configured as part of the initial setup of your Alumni site.
Events and Forms
Creating forms
- Form building on the Alumni site works in the same manner as the Vuture Email forms.
- Fields can be connected to an InterAction list so that preferences and RSVPs can write back to InterAction. This can be the same list which is used for mailing purposes, meaning one single repository of RSVPs for an event in InterAction.
- Add CV or other file upload button to a Vuture form
Linking to forms
If you create the form externally you may link from the site to the form.
Content Creation and Management
Creating Pages
- Creating new pages can be achieved through either copying an existing page or clicking on the new page button and selecting the layout. The page can be linked to by placing the page in a menu folder or by linking from text/images on another page.
Menus
- Menus can be created dynamically by placing them in the appropriate folder, which will automatically take the page name and create the menu item. Renaming a page will automatically update the menu item.
- If the menu is not driven dynamically then the menu can be edited by clicking on the menu from within Vuture and editing the text and links.
Editing Text
- Standard text can be edited by clicking on the text in the edit screen. Edit and style functions are driven by the template, with the amount of styling control given over to your editors defined by your firm as part of the setup process. Available styling options include fonts, font sizes and colours.
Editing Images
- Profile images are managed by the user and can be managed in the user administration section. All other images are managed through a point and click function which connects to a library of images. Users can upload images to the library and manipulate the image to work in the edit screen.
Cross Linked Content
- Some content can be tagged to automatically appear on other screens of the site (e.g. the first paragraph of the top item of news automatically pushing to the home page). This cross-linked content will be defined by your firm during the roll out process.
RSS feeds to populate content
- You may choose to dynamically create content on the site based on an RSS feed from another site (e.g. news from the main website might also push to the Alumni site).
Social Media Snippet
- You may choose to have content from Twitter automatically push to the alumni (e.g. your firm's most recent tweets might appear in a feed).
Dynamic Content
- Snippets of content can be tagged against InterAction fields, which means content can be shown/hidden based on an Alumnus’ setting in IA. Applications are varied but include content only for RSVP yes to events, VIP Alumni, In-House Counsel content etc.
Alumnus input
- Allow Alumni to share key content, e.g. jobs and news.
Reporting
Individual Dashboard
Administration
Feature List for the Alumni Email function
- Vuture’s Alumni Email tool allows the sending of newsletters, e-communications and invitations to Alumni. Emails can be sent to lists held as folders in InterAction CRM, with activities such as opens and clicks automatically written back. Event data such as registrations can also be captured directly in InterAction.
- Click here for the full Email and InterAction feature list
Email and Landing Page Editor
- Edit emails and landing pages using the same, easy to use, point and click interface.
Template Manager
Email Delivery
- Emails can be sent to folders in InterAction
Activities
- As your Alumni interact with the email, activities such as opens, clicks, RSVPs and bounces are automatically recorded in InterAction.
Form Editor
- Forms are easy to build and write back InterAction additional fields. Email forms and website registrations can write to the same InterAction folder.
