The Society Operations team at CFA Institute wants to keep the society network apprised of our efforts to improve your experience with our shared technology platforms. Given the importance of this information and its impact on current and future business decisions, we are pleased to share this update outlining recent developments and what you can expect in the coming months.

To see our progress, revisit our last quarterly update, and look for these updates to be posted on a quarterly basis here on Connexions.  

Salesforce Email Retention Policy

The Legal team at CFA Institute has enacted a retention policy for all Salesforce email communications across both internal CFA Institute use and society use. Best practice for email retention has been defined as any email communications generated or received by our platform beyond 36 months (3 years) are not to be retained, with exemptions for contacts that are flagged as being part of an ongoing legal hold or a disability accommodation case.

• Why this matters: CFA Institute will be deleting any emails stored on Salesforce that are older than 3 years. This policy covers Salesforce and Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Note that content in content builder will not be impacted. This purge routine is focusing only on emails sent or received by Salesforce older than 3 years.

• Timeline: This purge routine is only focusing on emails sent and received by Salesforce older than 3 years and will happen on a weekly basis starting this spring. CFA Institute will share more information on the timeline once information is solidified.

Society Data Health Analysis Results

In response to data-quality questions from societies, the internal IT architecture team at CFA Institute has initiated a data health exercise to ensure membership data captured in the CFA Institute database (BERT) matches what is available to societies in Salesforce, specifically looking for consistency issues.

As a reminder, Salesforce is the source of truth for all CFA Institute data. The Salesforce platform is a CRM, and reporting/data pulled from this system is reflective of the snapshot in time for when you have exported information.

Please refer to the updated Reporting Resource: September 2022 found within the Salesforce tile in Society Center. This resource includes guidance on where to find key datapoints via Salesforce reports, suggested reporting dates to enable societies to build historic records, and how to store and share data securely. This resource is designed to empower societies by enabling Salesforce users to pull key data on-demand that will help inform, support, and shape societies’ strategic initiatives.

• Timeline: We will be sure to update societies on this project in the next Quarterly Update.

Higher Logic Society Microsite Project Update 

We are happy to share that 119 of 120 societies on SharePoint are transitioning over to the Higher Logic Microsite Platform. We are well on our way to a successful transition. All project resources are available on Society Center within the “Society Websites” tile. Should you have any questions, please contact societywebsites@cfainstitute.org.

• Why this matters: the transition from SharePoint to Higher Logic is not only a service provided to societies at no cost. It is also a no-code, user friendly platform that will allow for syndicated CFA Institute content to be shared globally across all microsites. This will allow societies to save time updating their site with CFA Institute content and focus on their society-specific communications.
• Timeline: 

Higher Logic Society Leader Community Update 

The Membership and Community component of the Society Operating Model focuses on modernizing the member and volunteer experience through connection. To advance this initiative, we’ve invested in Higher Logic, a community engagement platform that hosts online communities, to engage and empower our society leaders and staff.

• Why this matters: An interactive society leader community will empower volunteers and enable leaders to learn from peers globally; allow for consistent collaboration between societies and CFA Institute; and recognize efficient, real-time communications and information sharing.

Society leaders currently access operational resources from Society Center and organizational strategic news through Connexions. Through the adoption of Higher Logic, we will streamline information sharing into one seamless experience. Please note that we do not have plans to retire Society Center and Connexions at this time—these resources will remain available to leaders for the foreseeable future.

• Timeline: Beta testing is scheduled to begin in February with a launch scheduled for March. Please be advised that the schedule shift was to allow CFA Institute to onboard a community manager and to complete layout work. We will communicate how your society can adopt and use the platform prior to launch.

Evaluating Salesforce Reporting: Member and Candidate Codes

Efforts at CFA Institute to stabilize integrations and streamline data will result in some changes to the member and candidate codes we use. As we expand the number of program offerings and the definition of candidate and certificate holders in our database, we are actively reviewing the current listing of codes and have recognized a need to change this model.

• Why this matters: The codes that are currently assigned to candidates and members in Salesforce are calculated from data in BERT and prone to error. This has the potential to create discrepancies in reporting. The Society Operations team, in conjunction with IT, is undertaking a project to evaluate and re-configure current reports available to societies to ensure the data we are providing is accurate.

• Timeline: This project is underway and will be completed by third quarter 2023. We will communicate any updates or changes to reporting to societies as they develop.

Cvent App

Society Operations and the IT Product team are working closely with Cvent to implement an application that will enhance data sharing and capture between Cvent and Salesforce.  

• Why this matters: In our current instance of Cvent, registration data does not flow back into Salesforce. This causes reconciling and reporting issues for local societies. 

• Timeline: The new app implementation will occur in two phases. The first phase includes updating the integration between Cvent and Salesforce in active and upcoming events. This will require society users to make some edits within individual events. The Society Operations team will be in touch in the third quarter with all admins at societies using the Cvent platform to offer training, user guides, and new event templates to support this transition. Please stay tuned for additional information and training sessions as we draw closer to implementation.  

If you have any questions or would like to learn more about these updates, please reach out to societysupport@cfainstitute.org.