Welcome to our latest Release Notes Newsletter, highlighting some of the recent additions and developments made to BAFTA's Nucleus software.
You are receiving this Newsletter because either you, or members of your team, are Admin users of Nucleus. If you would prefer not to receive it, have a colleague who you think should be included on the mailing list or would just like to share your feedback and thoughts please do so by sending us an email.
Best wishes,
David Lortal - Product Manager Elisabetta Mezzaro - Customer Support Executive
New Features And Improvements
MEDIA LIBRARY UPDATES
For more information about how to use all of the Media Library features review this guide.
USER INTERFACE UPDATES
Based on User Feedback we have updated the following UI elements of the Media Library:
1. Added a CMS text block above the library for admins to provide explanatory copy
2. Expanded the search bar so that entrants can search by Media Item Title and ID
3. Fixed a bug where it was not possible to use & as part of a title
4. Fixed the Image Preview for Entrants on the Media Item page
5. Created a preview image option for Admins
6. Tool tip displaying the full name and ID of Media Items to entrants on hover
7. Entrants are now forced to supply a title for the media item, file names are no longer automatically used
8. Videos are previewed in a pop-up window instead of embedded in the page
9. When admin users select Entries from the Media Items List page they are taken to a list of entries the media item is associated with
10. Media Item Title and File name are shown on the entry pdf file
11. Admins can now preview media items from the entry form
12. Improved UI for Admins to show if a Placeholder has been submitted and not a complete file on the entry form
13. Added a video transcoding message to the Media Item Question on the Entry form for Admins
14. Added UI for an admin user to enter a media item ID on the entry form to enable admins to link a media item to an entry
15. Entrants must provide a unique title for each Media Item preventing duplicate titles
16. Entrants can now download files they have uploaded into their library
17. Improved error messaging displayed to admins and entrants
AN EMAIL IS SENT TO ENTRANTS WHEN THEIR VIDEO FAILS TRANSCODE
Admins can now set up an automated email which will be sent to entrants when their video fails the transcode process. Admins can also be included in the CC option. This means that admin users no longer have to raise a support ticket to request the status of a file as this information is now emailed, providing entrants to upload a new file without admin intervention. To find out how to set up the email please read the guide.
RESTRICTING IMAGES THAT ARE DESIGNED TO BE DISPLAYED ON THE WEB
When providing images entrants often want to provide the best quality they can, which is great for print but not helpful if admins want to display the images on the Viewing Interface or another website. It is now possible to restrict the images that are provided by entrants to be "Web Friendly". To see how to use this option read here.
ALLOWING ENTRANTS TO CHOOSE THE DATES WHERE THEIR ENTRY WILL BE VIEWABLE
A new option means that entrants can choose an availability window where the entries will be viewable for judges and voters. Approved entries will only appear on the Viewing Interface during the period specified by entrants. Note this currently only applies to the Nucleus Viewing Interface, a further development is required for BAFTA View. Learn how to switch on this feature here.
AUTOMATED EMAIL ALERT FOR ADMINS WHEN MEDIA ITEM IS UPLOADED TO A SUBMITTED PLACEHOLDER
Admins can specify if an entry can be submitted with an asset or a placeholder. If submitted with a placeholder admins have the option to be notified by email when an asset has been provided for the placeholder. For full information click here.
ADMINS CAN SET A MAX FILE SIZE FOR ANY MEDIA LIBRARY QUESTION
Admins can now restrict the size of the file that entrants provide for a media item question. The file size is defined by MB or GB and displayed on the screen. When the entrant submits the entry any files will be rejected if they do not meet the required max size and the entrant will be prompted to provide a new file. To find out how to set this option click here.
ENTRY MANAGEMENT
UPDATES TO ALLOW LATE ENTRIES
The mechanism for allowing late entries, entry tokens, has been updated and replaced with admins creating unsubmitted entries in the entrant account. This has simplified the workflow for entrants. Instead of sending the entrant an email with a timed link for each entry they wish to create post deadline, Nucleus now creates unsubmitted entries on the entrant's dashboard. For more information read the help guide.
CREATE A CUSTOM PDF UPON ENTRY APPROVAL
Functionality has been added which allows admins to create a custom pdf when an entry is approved. This was primarily designed to issue entrants with a certificate but is not limited to this use case. Admins can generate a pdf that contains any content and the pdf can be dynamic using special values provided. For more information about how to apply this in terms of generating a certificate read the help guide.
SPECIFY THE NUMBER OF ENTRIES AN ORGANISATION CAN CREATE
Admins can now restrict the number of entries created by organisations in any given award. This can be used to provide an upper limit for bursary applications or competitions. For more information read this article.
BULK ISSUE ENTRIES TO ADMIN USERS
Nucleus automatically issues entries to the first admin user who checks them. At the bottom of each form on the Admin Interface there is a function that allows admins to issue the entry to another admin user. This enables teams with multiple admins reviewing entries for the same award to better manage their workflows. This function has been added to the batch entry functions meaning that an admin can now issue multiple entries to another admin user for review in one action. This help guide explains the process in more detail.
AUTOMATICALLY CHECK FOR MATCHING TITLES WITHIN AN AWARD
A new feature, which can be turned on at request, will highlight duplicate entry titles to admin users. This function looks for titles that appear to match and flags this to admin users who can choose what action to take. It is designed to assist admin users checking entries with spotting and resolving duplicate entries. To find out how to enable this on your instance read here.
REPORTING FOR THE NUMBER OF CATEGORIES ENTERED FOR AN AWARD BY ORGANISATION
A new report csv download is available which will provide a breakdown of the number of unsubmitted, submitted and approved categories for each organisation. This report is particularly useful to determine the number of categories entered if the entry form you have created allows entrants to enter multiple categories on the same entry form. For more information about this report, how to run it and all the other reporting functions within Nucleus view this guide.
NEW QUESTION TYPE ON ENTRY FORM FOR YOUTUBE AND VIMEO VIDEOS
For clients who are not using Electron and who do not need to control the video asset that the entrant provides a new question type has been developed. The question enables entrants to provide a YouTube or Vimeo link which can then be embedded in the Viewing Interface for Judges. The result is that judges do not need to leave the Viewing Interface to review the video content presenting a more coherent judging platform. For more information about how you can use this question and all other question types in Nucleus view this guide.
SOCIAL MEDIA REGISTRATION QUESTION ADDED TO ENTRY FORM SPECIAL VALUES
Answers provided by the entrant can be used to populate answers on the entry form saving the entrant from having to provide the same information twice. The answer to the Social Media question is now included in the Special Values. To see how to use these in your entry form please review this article. In addition there is a guide which explains how to customise the registration form for your instance.
VIEWING INTERFACE
NEW A-Z ORDERING OF ENTRIES ON VIEWING INTERFACE
All entries were listed in categories on the viewing interface A-Z, however, if the title started with the words The, An or A these words would be ignored and the entry would be alphabetised using the second word in the title. For example A New Hope, would be listed under N. A new listing option has now been added allowing admins to choose if they would like entries to be listed A-Z regardless of which word the title begins or to omit these words from the A-Z listing.
FASTER LOAD TIMES FOR CATEGORY PAGE
The load times of the category pages have dramatically decreased. Previously, the API to Electron, which is the system where all videos and files are uploaded, was called as the page was loaded. This meant for each download button link on the page a query was made and this took up a few seconds each time. It has now been updated so that the download links are only requested as required.
In addition, the full size images were displayed on the page, which also added to the load time. This has been updated so that the web-friendly preview version of images is now retrieved again reducing the page load time. You will notice a significant difference as the category pages load in the future.
ENHANCING THE CATEGORY SPECIFIC QUESTION ADMIN UI
Updates have been made to two areas of the Admin interface in Nucleus to show admins where a question has been selected to display on Nucleus for a specific category only.
- In the question settings, next to Viewing Portal Title, if a question has been elected to be used for a specific category this will be displayed.
- When editing a category and specifying category-specific questions any question that has been specified as category-specific will be marked with an *.
For more information about how to set up and use Category specific Questions on the Viewing Interface click here.
USER MANAGEMENT
INVITE ENTRANTS TO CREATE AND SUBMIT ENTRIES
If you have a group of users who do not currently exist in Nucleus and you would like to invite them to register, then a new functionality makes this possible. It's perfect if you have a list of users who register on your website for information about your awards. The functionality will create an entrant's account in Nucleus and invite them to set an email. Full instructions are available here on the help guide.
ISSUING TAGS TO ENTRANT USERS
Tag Entrant Users to set up user groups that can be filtered on the Entrant User table. This was introduced to further expand the Email Bundle functionality further allowing admin users to filter entrants and create email lists. Learn how to create tags here.
FINANCE FUNCTIONS
UPDATES TO THE AUTOMATIC DISCOUNT FUNCTIONALITY
In 2021 automatic discount functionality was added to Nucleus to provide Early Bird and Late Fee pricing. A number of tweaks and improvements have been made to the functionality since it was released. For full instructions please review the help guide.
ENTRY ID INCLUDED WITH ENTRY TITLE ON INVOICE
There are configuration options in Nucleus that define entry titles should be printed on all invoices or give entrants the option to print the entry titles on the invoice. Entrants can use this to reconcile their invoices. Now the entry IDs are included alongside the entry titles. If you wish to have this functionality enabled on your instance please raise a support ticket.
EXISTING PAYMENT STRUCTURES ARE NOW COPIED TO A NEW AWARD WHEN AN AWARD IS CLONED
Previously when an award was cloned the payment structures were not copied. This has now been included as part of the copying process meaning a more streamlined set up for new awards.
ADMININSTRATION FUNCTIONS
RUN REPORTS ON ENTRIES ACROSS ALL AWARDS
The Report Entries Across All Awards is a report which enables admin users to select one or more organisations and export data for all of the entries they have submitted across all awards. This report is useful for admin users who want to run like-for-like data comparisons across multiple years. Click here to read more information on this.
PASSWORD RESET LINK SIMPLIFIED
A new special value has been created and applied to the Entrant and Viewer Password Reset emails. Instead of admins having to code the link from a number of values the link can now be generated by inserting @@resetlink@@ into the email templates.
AWARD SPECIFIC EMAIL TEMPLATES DELETED WITH AWARD
When an award is deleted the tidy up script will now delete any email templates that were created for the award. this will help to keep the email template table cleaner and allow admin users to manage the templates for active awards.
GENERAL FUNCTIONALITY UPDATES
Updates we have made recently include:
1. Removing the word BAFTA from the Media Library pop-up window
2. Adding the option for a phone number question to have a default value
3. Correcting typos in the Admin Interface
4. Fixing the scaling issues with the rich text editors
5. Adding a filter to the Organisation list page to enable admins to review more than 300 at a time
6. Improving the display of Pick List questions on the entry pdf files
7. Preventing the receipt email being sent to users when their invoice is revoked
8. Not showing multiple payment attempts where the amount is £0 on the invoice details screen
9. Adding Manual Categories to the Vote Data Download
10. Removing the Pay Now link from receipts and credit notes
11. Fixing the number of users displayed on the admin interface user list page
12. Updating the filtering options on the email list to enable better filtering
DESIGN UPDATES
Updates we have made recently include:
1. Updated the style of the dashboard submitted deadline passed warning
2. Fixed the icons on the Manage Users page actions menu
3. Updated icons on the Invoice page actions menu
4. Updated icons on the Dashboard submitted entries actions menu
5. Fix the display of tables in the WISIWIG editors
6. Removed the erroneous | characters in the Viewing Interface footer
7. Fixed the display of the header in the Viewing Interface
8. Fixed the flag for mandatory questions that are part of a multi-part question
9. Fixed the display of help text for multi-part questions
10. Added a new feature to the Design Controls page which allows admins to increase the size of footers if required - previously this was hardcoded
11. Fixed invoice preview footer formatting issue
12. Reimplemented the number of error reporting on paginated dividers
13. Fixed position of buttons on submission screen
14. Alphabetised awards on the dashboard
15. Alphabetised awards list select on the dashboard
16. New CMS message for when all active awards are hidden from the Create Entry page
17. Fixed formatting of text on the skip category review screen
18. Removed the option to change the colour of text in the rich text editors
19. Formatted the new design on the New Nominations Welcome page
SECURITY UPDATES
We take the ongoing security of Nucleus very seriously, and are constantly adjusting and upgrading our security features to deal with new and emerging threats.
Updates we have made recently include:
1. Updating all Underscore.js Libraries
2. Configuring all servers to HSTS
3. Requiring the confirmation of a reCapture when any user changes a password for Entrants, Admins and Viewers
4. Updating TLS
5. Adding the X Content Type Options in the header
6. Deploying the CSP Header
7. Redirecting all servers to https
8. Preventing CSRF on POST requests
9. Setting up a Data Lifecycle Manager for faster backups
10. Updating Security on the Apache Control Panel
Current Compatibilities
With the increasing number of operating systems, browsers and their extenuating versions across the digital landscape, it's important to keep a tab on compatibility. As a valued customer of BAFTA Media Tech (BMT), please be assured that we strive to keep in step with such developments to ensure continued and equal access to Nucleus for all of your entrants and users.
In the unusual instance that a user informs you they are unable to use the platform, you should then check whether their system or browser complies with this list and advise them to update where necessary.
The following list is accurate as of December 2021.
Operating Systems currently supported:
Windows - 8.1, Windows 10 Home and Pro
Mac OS - Catalina, Big Sur and Monterey
iOS - 15.2
Android - 10,11 and 12
Browsers currently supported:
Safari - Desktop Versions 13, 14 and 15; Mobile Version 15
Mozilla Firefox - Desktop Versions 94, 91.3.0 ESR; Mobile Version 34 (iOS) and 94 (Android)
Google Chrome - Desktop and Mobile Versions 94-98
Opera - Desktop Version 81.0.4196.31; Mobile Version 63.3.3216.58675
Microsoft Edge - Desktop Version 95.0.1020.44; Mobile Versions
