Released September 22, 2022 (build 46.9.13)

Provisioning API additions

Jostle's User Provisioning API will now include support for the Custom Profile Field, User State (Active, Disabled, Suspended), and Invite for Authentication Method (Jostle, Google, SSO).

"Jostle Bot" name updated to "<Platform name> Bot" 

Customers who have given their platform a custom name will have their "Jostle Bot" (the internal user that performs automated platform functions) renamed to reflect their custom name instead of "Jostle". UPDATE: This feature will now arrive in the Journey release.

***

TOTAL:  77  bug fixes, improvements, and/or performance enhancements.

***

Release cycle theme: Jostle: A to Z

I is for Innovate

Do you know what drives a person to innovate?

Is it that undeniable feeling, perhaps called fate,
That puts someone in a certain state
And fills them with a need to create
New methods, ideas, and ways to relate?

Or do those who go on to innovate,
First experience, at an institution where they matriculate,
What it is to collaborate, and perhaps even co-create?
(Which are different things, as I once did state 😉)

And this sparks something, a desire innate
To do something more, beyond just "great"?
But to act upon this, they may still have to wait,
For even breakthrough advances need time to gestate.

But whatever their journey or output rate
What these people all share is a common trait.
They do not settle to simply imitate.
Instead, they reach and aspire and always demonstrate

That drive to explore and discover - in short, they innovate!

Released September 6, 2022 (build 46.8.21)

Library: Improved actions and information

All Users: Options, menus, and info panels in Library have been updated to be more intuitive for users and provide more transparency on permission-based actions.

***

TOTAL:  91 bug fixes and/or performance enhancements.

***

Release cycle theme: Jostle: A to Z

H is for Help

Did you know that "SOS", the letters used in the international call for help, originally never stood for anything? Most people think they were derived from "Save Our Ships", but it's actually the other way around. "Save Our Ships" was added afterwards to give meaning to "SOS". And that's what makes "SOS" a backronym - an acronym formed by taking an already-existing word and expanding its letters to represent words of a phrase.

Back when telegraphs and Morse code were used to communicate across countries and overseas, operators choose "S-O-S" to indicate distress because the three short dots for "S" and three longer dashes for "O" made it an easy code to transmit and recognize. It was mostly likely due to the prominent use of Morse code by ships at sea that transmitting "S-O-S" became linked to nautical distress, such as ships that are in danger of sinking, and thus, the backronym was created.

Backronyms have become increasingly common over the years. Comic book creators in particular are very fond of them (it's practically a sub-genre at Marvel, whose fictional government agency "S.H.E.I.L.D." has been backronymed three different times over the years). But one of my favourite backronyms has to be the one coined by NASA. "Combined Operational Load-Bearing External Resistance Treadmill", is what they came up with to justify naming a treadmill on the International Space Station after late-night talk show host Stephen COLBERT.

Well played, NASA (...and here's to hoping we never have to re-backronym SOS to stand for "Save Our Spaceships").

Released August 16, 2022 (build 46.7.25)

Enable mobile logout of SSO

System Admins: For customers using SSO, when the logout option "Jostle and your SSO system" is selected in Administration Settings > Governance > Manage Login Credentials, it will now apply to both the desktop and mobile app versions of the platform.

Previously, selecting this option would only log users out of their SSO system on desktop.

***

TOTAL:  99 bug fixes and/or performance enhancements.

***

Release cycle theme: Jostle: A to Z

G is for Give

Did you know that in thinking about what I could write about give, I was struck by something? (No, not in the physical sense). Namely, why do we use the phrase "give up" to mean "surrender"?  I then discovered that "give up" is literally the English translation of "surrender" (sur = on/above/up, render = to present), which itself was probably the English pronunciation of the term "se rendre" meaning "to render itself".

So, hmm...we have a French/Latin term, changed in pronunciation so it becomes less "to leave the outcome of something in the hands of destiny" and more "to stop trying to do something", which then gets changed in translation to -- *SIGH*. Y'know what?

My brain is about to give way, so before I give in to my deadline I'm going to give up trying to write any more about "give" so it won't be a given that I'll give out before I can give out these notes, which wouldn't give out any good vibes, at all. Forgive?

Released on August 2, 2022 (build 46.6.33)

Special release

Aside from the usual bug fixes and improvements, the majority of new features included in the Fun release will be used in preparation for future advancements. As such, there are no customer-facing features to highlight for this release.

***

TOTAL:  75 bug fixes and/or performance enhancements.

***

Release cycle theme: Jostle: A to Z

F is for Fun

Did you know that the word fun can be very deceiving? Because usually if you put "fun" in front of something, it automatically broadcasts that this thing is now MORE enjoyable and enticing than it was before. For example: fun facts, fun runs, Fun-Dip.

HOWEVER, don't fall into the trap of seeing "f-u-n" and instantly assuming it's an indication of imminent FUN. Because then you'll find yourself quickly experiencing the very un-fun worlds of funnels, functions, fundamentalism, and perhaps the un-funnest of all: funerals.

Well, I guess I can't really count "funerals" because we don't actually pronounce them "FUN-erals". Although...FunEarl's would be a GREAT name if you ever wanted to open a combination funeral home/night club, right? Ooh, I can see the copy now:

Go from "death in the family" to "life of the party" at FunEarl's!

Deal with those mourning blues in your dancing shoes at FunEarl's!

We put the "fun" in "funeral" at...um, okay...yeah. I'll stop now.

Released July 20, 2022 (build 46.5.41)

Removal of Jostle information from email notifications

To avoid any unnecessary confusion for customers and their users, Jostle's company information will be removed from the footer of all platform notification emails.

Jostle Support: Hours of Operation

Jostle Support's hours of operation have been updated and posted in the Help section of the platform to provide System Admins with a better expectation of response times. The hours will also be indicated on the Support request form.

Our Support Team is available Monday to Friday, 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM (Pacific) and normally responds quickly during these hours.

Additional fields for User Provisioning API 

System Admins: The scope of user data that customers can manage via Jostle's User Provisioning API has been significantly increased with the arrival of several new fields (including Birthdate, Join Date, Employee ID, and more) as well as additional Address and Phone Number fields. For more information see our Support Center.

NOTE—these new fields are not available through Azure or Okta at this time.

***

TOTAL:  78 bug fixes and/or performance enhancements.

***

Release cycle theme: Jostle: A to Z

E is for Encourage

Did you know that it doesn't matter if you're:

...enjoyably engulfing enticing enchiladas,

...encountering encrypted, encoded, enchanted enigmas,

...or endlessly enduring encroaching, envious enemy entourages,

...you could probably benefit by someone enabling a little "endgame energy" in you, right?

That is to say, a little encouragement can go a long way, any day. 😉

Released July 11 (build 46.4.33)

Date/time preferences now reflected on News items

All Users: The publishing dates that appear on News items, tiles, and banners will now be displayed for each user in their preferred date/time format (as indicated in My Preferences > Date Format).

Tasks users will also see their preferred format reflected in the due dates for their tasks.

***

TOTAL:  84 bug fixes and/or performance enhancements.

***

Release cycle theme: Jostle: A to Z

D is for Deliver

Did you know that the word deliver is an emordnilap?

Similar to a palindrome (a word that spells the same word forwards or backwards, see: "noon", "radar"), an emordnilap is a word that spells a completely different word backwards than it does forwards (as in: "deliver/reviled")?

Also, "emordnilap" is "palindrome" spelled backwards, so that doesn't confuse things at all, right?

So, as my brain was absorbing all of the above info, I somehow decided I needed to issue myself the following challenge: Could I make a coherent sentence containing ONLY emordnilaps AND arrange them pair-by-pair so that the sentence itself becomes a palindrome?

That is, create a sentence that's spelled the same forwards and backwards, consisting only of words that spell different words forwards and backwards. Again, not confusing at all, right?

Well, spoiler alert! It turns out that the answer was YES. Yes, I could.

BEHOLD, my emordnilap/palindrome combo sentence (context - crisis at a culinary school):

Pupils stressed, deliver reviled desserts. Slipup!

Ta-da! And with that, my brain is now completely fried, forwards and backwards. I'm ready to pots...uh, I mean "stop". I'm ready to stop.

Stop won. 😣 Stop NOW.

*sigh*

Released June 15, 2022 (build 46.3.14)

Library Sign Off

Available only on platforms with Library and Tasks enabled

Similar to the Sign Off feature already available in News, Library Sign Off lets Volume Librarians assign tasks that require users to read and sign-off on selected Library items. For more information, see our Support Center.

NOTE—This feature will be gradually rolled out after the Create release has been deployed.

***

TOTAL:  68 bug fixes and/or performance enhancements.

***

Release cycle theme: Jostle: A to Z

C is for Create

Did you know that to co-create is not the same as to collaborate? Of course, I can elaborate, and via this poem I shall elucidate:

There is a correlation
Between co-creation and collaboration.

But not the same are these two,
Even though both require more than just you.

In the case of collaboration
A common goal is the destination.

But when you co-create, you innovate.
You work with others and extrapolate
From different views and concentrations
Ideas, sparks and inspirations.

Resulting in something new to celebrate!
And something, something...predicate?

(I'm running out of words to rhyme,
So this bit's padding, to fill the time.)

And now there's no more time to wait--
We're at the end of my poem for create.

Released June 3, 2022 (build 46.2.18)

Jostle Viewer: Improved CSV support

Previously, when viewing CSV files in the Jostle Viewer, the data would be presented without any column separation or uniform alignment. Now, the Viewer will properly present CSV files in a spreadsheet format, making their data much easier to read and analyze.

***

TOTAL:  102 bug fixes and/or performance enhancements.

***

Release cycle theme: Jostle: A to Z

B is for Build

Did you know that the famous quote from Field of Dreams, "If you build it, they will come" is actually a misquote? In the 1989 movie, about an Iowa famer who hears a voice that compels him to turn part of his cornfield into a baseball diamond, it's "...he will come", not "they".

The reason why it's been misquoted is most likely due to how quickly it was adopted (and still used today) as mantra in the world of business. As in: If you build "it" (your company/store/service), "they" (customers) will come".

Now while that may have been somewhat true back in the brick-and-mortar heyday of the early '90s, when giants like Starbucks and Wal-Mart could open a new location practically anywhere at anytime and start raking in the profits, the story is a lot different in the e-commerce/online shopping/SaaS world of today. It's no longer enough to simply build something to get people to come to it.

Therefore, I propose a new, more realistic mantra for the ambitious people of today who are looking to launch their own venture:

"If you identify a need for it, build it, test it, market it, promote it, advertise it, social medialize it, incentivize it, land early adopters for it...then MAYBE they will come" 😉

Released May 19, 2022 (build 46.1.16)

Special release

This release includes the usual number of small fixes and improvements, but its remaining features will be used to provide support for upcoming advancements. As such, there are no customer-facing features to highlight for Approve.

***

TOTAL:  47 bug fixes and/or performance enhancements.

***

Release cycle theme: Jostle: A to Z

A is for Approve

Did you know that the reason why you hear so many politicians say "...and I approve this message" on their campaign commercials is because they are required by law to do so?

In an effort to rein in the growing rise of political candidates using their campaign ads to make controversial claims or attacks against their opposition, a provision was enacted in 2002. It required candidates to align themselves with their television and radio ads by stating their name along with some variation of the words "And I approve this message" (essentially taking responsibility for the claims being made in the ad).

And while it did initially result in reducing the amount of muckraking among candidates, it has since been used as a tactic to increase the credibility of negative ads. Recent studies have shown that so long as a candidate approves an ad's message, viewers will tend to see their statements - positive OR negative - as the truth.

Huh. Well, in that case...

"I'm Vince and I approve this message." 😁

Released May 9, 2022 (build 45.26.22)

Special release

Aside from the usual fixes and improvements, most of the features included in Zuccotto will be used to lay the groundwork for future advancements. As such, there are no customer-facing features to highlight for this release.

***

TOTAL:  44 bug fixes and/or performance enhancements.

***

Release cycle theme: Sweet treats

Did you know that zuccotto means "little pumpkin" in Italian? It's a nod to the tradition of making this semi-frozen dessert in a pumpkin-shaped mold, the shape of which is said to be a nod to the dome of the Duomo di Firenze—whose design was said to be a nod to the classic Mediterranean domes and was itself, a nod to the growing desire of the Italian architects of the late 1300s to f;jdjvlmjcnaufhpZzzzz-*SNRK!* Huh? Wha?!

Oh...oops. Sorry about that. Apparently I've been nodding off quite a bit lately.

Um....so, back to zuccotto. One last fun fact is that it's basically a mash-up of cake, ice cream, and brandy (...which could be seen as a nod to people who can never decide what to order from a dessert menu).