Service updates to support automatic microchip registrations

UPDATE: Microchip Registrations are now live and active as of July 27, 2013.

We're getting close to releasing our microchip registration integration.

Here are the changes that you'll notice after our updates:

Under Animals > Settings you'll see a new section for Microchip Registrations.  You'll need to enable the microchip registry you'd like to use (currently we are supporting 911PetChip and  FreePetChipRegistry -- other providers can contact us if they would also like to be integrated with us).

In the Pet Adoption Portal, Website, and Manage interfaces you'll see a Register check box under the Microchip number field on the Add and Edit Animal pages. If you select that check box, you'll be able to enter the microchip registrant information.

If you have the Data Management service, you'll also see a Register check box under the Microchip number field on the Add an Adoption page. The registrant information will be populated for you automatically from the Adopter you selected.

More information about how our microchip integration will work can be found in the following User Guide article:

http://support.rescuegroups.org:8091/x/NwCN

If you have any questions regarding the microchip integration, or regarding our updates, please contact support.

RescueGroups.org Newsletter 6/24/2013

There's so much going on right now! We are very excited about the growth and positive feedback we've been receiving recently!

Please read carefully below because everything included is very important. Feel free to contact us via Support, the Requests page, or Facebook if you have any comments or suggestions!

Contents:

  • Upcoming changes to user permissions
  • Sync App
  • Microchips
  • Adopt-a-Pet.com Grant
  • DogTime Petties

Upcoming changes to user permissions

We posted to our blog the other day about our planned changes and improvements to our user permissions and roles. These changes are primarily in response to your Requests and the suggestions we have received.

Please take a look at the following blog post. You may need to take action for your current users to maintain their existing permissions and access.

https://www.rescuegroups.org/were-improving-our-user-permissions-and-roles/

Sync App

Please double-check your Sync App to be sure it's running. There was an issue with a previous version of the Sync App that prevented it from running. You should be on version 5.5.2, and if you aren't, you may need to download and update the Sync App manually. Please go to the Sync App web page for additional information.

Microchips

We are still working on our microchip integration with 911PetChip and FreePetChipRegistry.com. Sorry for the delay. We expect to make additional announcements within the next month or so!

Adopt-a-Pet.com Grant

The Adopt-a-Pet.com Happy Beginnings Fund is now accepting applications from shelters and rescues! If you have, or are planning, a really inspired adoption program, or you have specific costs related to making sure your adoptions are successful (like providing adoption kits or obedience classes), Adopt-a-Pet.com wants to hear from you! The fund is accepting applications from June 15, 2013 through July 13, 2013.

Apply here: http://www.adoptapet.com/grants

DogTime Petties

The DogTime Petties nominations have opened and as part of the nominations phase, DogTime has also started their Petties Grant program. We ask everyone that nominates a blogger for the categories in the Petties to also nominate a shelter or rescue for the Petties Grant. The shelter or rescue that wins receives a $ 10k donation from DogTime.

The nominations end in just a few days, so spread the word quickly! Your rescue or shelter might be the winner of the $ 10k donation!

For more info please visit http://petties.dogtime.com/grants.

Thank you so much for your support!

We’re improving our user permissions and roles!

We’re working on some changes to the user permissions in our Data Management and Website services.

There are several reasons why we’re working on this, but the major reasons are:

  1. We want the Volunteer role to provide only the most basic access and functionality, and no access to view contacts or animals
  2. We want to clarify the current security roles

We’ll be accomplishing this by gradually trimming permissions away from the Volunteer role, and assigning them to existing roles or new roles.

This does not mean that there will be fewer roles; in fact there will be more roles to choose from.  However, we will simplify the roles by highlighting a small number of roles that will meet the needs of the majority of users.

In the end, our goal is to clarify the most commonly used roles (including a few new roles we will be adding):

Volunteer: Can access the Volunteers Only web page, and (if enabled) enter their own Volunteer Hours.

Contacts View and Animal View: Can view Contacts or Animals, respectively, and their related information.

Animal Foster Update: Can update animals if they are selected as the foster.  This includes editing the animal, uploading pictures, and all other objects (files, relationships, etc.).

Animal Admin: Can add, update, and delete all animals and related information.

Data Admin: Can add, update and delete all data in your account, but is not authorized to make any account changes (like changing services or billing information).

Site Admin: Always has all permissions to the account, including adding/cancelling services, changing billing information, etc.

We will post to our blog as we are adjusting the roles.  We will be updating our services object-by-object, so any disruption should be minor.

If you have any questions or need any additional help, please contact Support.

Here are a few of the most common questions regarding this upcoming change:

Why is this important to me?

This update is important because user permissions are going to be changing, and you may need to take action so that your users can maintain their current level of access.

Also, you will gain additional control over the user permissions that you can assign to a volunteer or staff member.

Is there anything I should do right now?

Since the volunteer role will actually be losing access, it’s important that you review your current volunteers and staff, and their job functions, and determine if they should be added to any additional roles.

For example, if one or more of your users is only in the Volunteers role and they need continue to access your Contacts and Animals list, you should consider adding them to additional roles.

Custom contact groups and improved animal save buttons

This week we'll be adding two improvements that our partners have been asking for.  These updates are for our Manage interface.

We expect to release these new features, along with additional minor updates and fixes, on May 9, 2013.

Read below for more information!

Custom Contact Groups

Now you can create your own Contact Groups to organize your contacts.  The pre-existing contact groups cannot be removed or changed, but you can create an unlimited number of your own contact groups.

Save buttons at the top of the animal page

When you add or save an animal you will now find the Cancel, Save, Save and New, and Save and Clone buttons at the top of the page.  Hopefully this will save you some time if you only need to make a minor change to an animal (you won't have to scroll to the bottom of the page to find the buttons).

Submit your own ideas and suggestions

Please add your own ideas and suggestions to our Requests page!

https://www.rescuegroups.org/requests/

Thank you for your support!

Microchip Integration coming soon to RescueGroups.org

RescueGroups.org recently invited reputable microchip vendors and registries to contact us concerning integrating their services with the rescue and shelter community.

We’re pleased to announce that we are partnering strategically with 911PetChip™ and FreePetChipRegistry™ to provide electronic microchip registrations.

911PetChip™ and FreePetChipRegistry™ exceed our requirements and expectations for a community-focused microchip vendor and registry.

What does this strategic partnership mean to shelters and rescues?

This partnerships means that rescues and shelters will soon be able to electronically register microchips to their new adoptive owners.

For more information, please visit this web page:

https://www.rescuegroups.org/911PetChip

When can we start using this feature?

You can start buying microchips from 911PetChip™ immediately.

However, the changes to the RescueGroups.org services, and the actual microchip registration process is still being developed.  We will make an announcement in the near future (currently expecting within 5-7 weeks) to let you know when the microchip registration functionality will be available for you to use within your RescueGroups.org services.

What if we’re already using a different system?  Why should we use this one instead?

There are several major reasons you should consider the RescueGroups.org system for your microchip registrations, including:

  1. RescueGroups.org is a non-profit, and we answer only to you
  2. There’s nothing to sell or buy (like pet health insurance)
  3. Our microchip partners are required to provide opt-out options for new owners, so no surprise solicitation phone calls
  4. No registration or maintenance fees
  5. The registration will be integrated with your RescueGroups.org service!

How do we switch over if we’re already using another system?

We’ll help you as much as possible if you’d like to switch over to our services.

If you’re already using PetPoint specifically, we can help you by importing your animals, contacts, intakes and outcomes from your PetPoint account.

Please contact support for additional details.

I have questions, comments and ideas!

Please feel free to contact support with any questions or comments.

If you have ideas on how to improve our services, feel free to post them on our Requests page:

https://www.rescuegroups.org/requests/

Save time by using PDF Contracts

Website and Online Forms users!

Did you know you can create PDF contracts using information from your RescueGroups.org database?  It's really easy and could save you a lot of time!

We're telling you about this now because this feature has been made available inside of the Manage interface (https://manage.rescuegroups.org).  Soon, our website users will be automatically taken to the Manage website to create a PDF contract.

PDF Contracts take information from your database and add it to a PDF document that you can print.  Animal information like name, age, breed, and adopter information like name, address, contact information, along with other information.

This feature is great for printing a contract before an adoption placement -- the information comes straight from your RescueGroups.org account so you don't have to re-write it on the contract.  You can use it to print any contract-type document, including volunteer contracts, home visit forms, etc.

RescueGroups.org needs to set it up this feature for you.  We can take an existing PDF or a Word document and create the required PDF form.  We may ask for a small fee depending on the complexity of your contract.  Your organization needs to have either the Website service or the Online Forms iFrame service in order to use this feature.

If you have any questions or would like additional information please contact Support!

Your requests lead to improvements

This week we implemented four of the requests we've received so far on our Requests page.  We're constantly reviewing and updating the Requests that you post, so keep those ideas and votes coming!

Ability to view submitted forms in email

We've added the option to have the questions and answers from a submitted form be added to the Submitted Form alert email.  The site-wide option is under Features > Online Forms > Settings.

Delete messages from the Messaging Center

We not only added the ability to delete messages from your Messaging Center, but also the option to have your Weekly Tracker Report to go into the Messaging Center.  We posted to our blog earlier this week about this improvement.

Species selection on print summary

We've improved the Print Summary page so that you can select all, or select none of the species at the same time.

Include “Needs Caretaker” field in REST API

The Needs Caretaker field is now included in the REST API.  This field is only available via our Data Management service.

Please help us reach our goal

Yesterday we launched a fundraiser to raise money so we can afford to have multiple web servers and a loadbalancer.  We've already raised nearly 1/3 of our goal!

Currently, a server failure or vendor issue could bring down our services, and we want to be sure we can have multiple servers and redundancy.  These improvements will go a long way to helping us be online and available as close to 100% of the time as possible.

We need your help to make this happen!  Please consider donating to help us reach our goal.

Here's the main fundraising web page with our status:

https://www.rescuegroups.org/give/help-us-provide-even-more-reliability/

Thank you so much to everyone who has donated so far!

Even if you aren't able to donate at this time we appreciate your support!  Donating is not a requirement of using our services, and our service fees (and free services) will not be changing.

Improvements to the Messaging Center

We've made a few minor updates to the Messaging Center inside of your Manage account.

To get to the updated Messaging Center, login to your Manage account, and from the Welcome screen, click View all of your messages under the Message Center Preview.  Or click the New Messages link in the upper-right-hand corner of the screen.

The first update is... now you can delete messages!  From the Messaging Center, simply check the box next to the messages you want to delete, and click the Delete Selected Message(s) button.

The second update is that we will be giving you the option to have messages delivered to the Messaging Center instead of to you email mailbox.  The first email that can be delivered to the Messaging Center is the Weekly Tracker Report.

The Weekly Tracker Report email will automatically be in your Messaging Center each week, in addition to being delivered to your email inbox.  If you want to disable receiving the Message in the Messaging Center, or via email, you can make that change by going to Services > My Settings.

Save your sanity by using the Sync App to update your Petfinder pet list

OK, so we can’t guarantee you will keep your sanity if you use the Sync App to update Petfinder.  But thousands of organizations have discovered that it does have some major benefits!

It saves you a ton of time

Logging into another website, especially one with a lot of clicks, screens, pages, and drop downs, can really take a lot of your time.

Why not have the system do the extra work for you?  You add your pets to your RescueGroups.org pet list, and the Sync App updates Petfinder behind the scenes.

That way you can spend more time with your pets -- that’s the reason RescueGroups.org is here in the first place.

Security

The Sync App can update Petfinder without giving your Petfinder user name and password to anyone.

That means you can get help updating your RescueGroups.org pet list using our built-in super-powerful security features including SSL, multiple security roles, and data/media security.

Then, the Sync App can update Petfinder without having to give anyone else your Petfinder password.

The Sync App can always try to upload again later if there’s a problem

The Internet gets slow, and various things prevent you from updating all of your pets on Petfinder.

That’s no problem for the Sync App.  You don’t have to sit around trying to make your updates or upload pictures -- the Sync App will make its updates whenever the Internet is working!

For more information about the Sync App, please go to your Animals > Exports page and look for the Petfinder export, or contact Support.