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Previous Berkshire Product Release Notes

2010‑2015

Current Product Release Notes

balanceTRAK 3.4 Release - Thursday, May 28, 2015

This upgrade includes the following:

  • The User Management section has been redesigned to improve functionality and usability when managing your balanceTRAK users. New features include:
    • Copy to User and Create from User tools to expedite the creation of new balanceTRAK users.
    • Filter and search tools for finding specific users or groups of users, based on user access level and function or data profile.
    • Enhanced User Management reporting, accessible on the Reports page.

  • The Form Template editor has been redesigned to better reflect the Job Seeker application process:
    • The overall “look and feel” now provides improved usability and better reflects what the Job Seeker will see as they are applying for a Requisition.
    • The form sections include new menus, icons, and working areas to streamline form and question creation and management.
    • Additional functionality has also been added to the form editor, including:

The header, footer, and instructions in forms can now accept formatting such as bold, italics, etc.

Cover letters may now be marked as required.

Education, employment, and reference fields can be renamed by contacting Berkshire's Product Support department.

  • Job Seekers that have been hidden from view due to the Requisition Job Seeker Filter, can now be viewed through Profile Management permissions. For more information on this feature, please contact Product Support.

  • balanceTRAK users can now be notified when a Job Seeker has been placed into an Applicant Stage.
  • A balanceTRAK user’s ability to update a job code’s default Job Description can now be restricted through Profile Management settings.
  • The Job Description editor is now fully compliant with the recent versions of IE, Chrome, and Firefox.
  • Additional bug fixes
  • The Help documentation has been restructured into a "Wiki" format.

balanceAAP / BALANCEhub 3.3 - January 28, 2015

This upgrade includes the following new features and enhancements, as well as fixes for previously reported issues.

IWD/Veterans The accuracy of the Jobs Opened calculation, in the Hiring Overview activity, has been improved by counting all hired applicants in addition to the unique requisitions where a job seeker has not been hired. Unique Promotion IDs can also now be included to incorporate internal openings into this calculation.

Roster Data Table The Roster Data table has been updated to include additional fields required in the most recent Scheduling Letter, including: Grade, Wage Rate, Typical Hours in a Work Week, Other Compensation, Status, and Protected Veteran.

Compensation Data Export The ability to export the compensation data, as outlined in the revised Scheduling Letter, has been added to the Data Export page.

Adverse Impact Reporting Also in response to the recent changes from the OFCCP’s Scheduling Letter, the following changes have been made to the Adverse Impact reports:

  • The Traditional Adverse Impact reports previously available, can still be accessed through balanceAAP, but are now called “Adverse Impact….Traditional."
  • Plans created after this January 2015 release will have these plans hidden by default, but can be displayed by unchecking the “Hide Legacy Reports” option, located in the Global Settings on the Select Reports page.
  • Adverse Impact reports have been modified to analyze the data, based off the Favored Group analyses. These reports will now compare the selection rate for each individual race or gender against the group that has the highest overall selection rate.
  • Adverse Impact reports will no longer be specifically identified as being run by Favored Groups. New plans will only show Adverse Impact and Adverse Impact Detail reports.
  • Adverse Impact Detail reports have been updated to support the Favored Group analysis and enhanced to further breakdown by selected groups into Hired, Internal Successful, and Offer Extended.
  • In addition to running Favored Groups by Race and Gender, a new section has been added to compare Total Minorities versus Whites.
  • BALANCEhub will also include all corresponding Adverse Impact changes to calculations, Reports, and DASH graphs.
  • Adverse Impact reports can be filtered by Job Group to help minimize the amount of information produced in reports that must be submitted for review.
  • balanceAAP now supports multiple versions of Narrative Templates so that updates can be phased in, as necessary.

balanceAAP Narratives and Reports

  • A new version of the balanceAAP Narratives has been included to comply with the most recent changes to the Scheduling Letter. The modifications include:
    • Overall language changes have been made to the default Narrative Templates.
    • Additional Narrative template tags have been added, including: Top US Official and their Title, Review of Personnel Processes Detail, Review of Physical and Mental Job Requirements Detail, and Additional Monitoring Actions.

  • The Data > Export tab is now directly accessible from the Select Reports page.

  • The Compensation Summary report is now run by Favored Group.

Help
The Help documentation has been restructured in a "Wiki" format.

Version 3.1: July 7, 2014

This upgrade iincludes the following new features and enhancements:

Introducing BALANCEhub REACH, a Good Faith Efforts Tracker

  • The ability to track the Good Faith Efforts (GFE) of your organization’s outreach and recruitment programs has now been added to BALANCEhub.
  • REACH allows your organization to:
    • Log individual outreach Activities, and record and search by, various factors such as geographic reach, target group, and location.
    • Store the outreach source information for use at a later time or for reference.
    • Perform Evaluations on each activity and every source.
    • Define your own criteria to evaluate your Sources.
    • Report on Good Faith Efforts data collected and statistics about this information.

balanceAAP – REACH integration

  • REACH data can now be integrated into your organization’s Affirmative Action plan Narratives when the plans are developed in balanceAAP.

BALANCEhub Modifications

  • In additional to adding REACH to BALANCEhub, the remaining BALANCEhub features have been rebranded but maintain the same functionality as before:
    • The Dashboard section has been renamed DASH.
  • The Reports section has been renamed SHARE.

Version 3.0: March 23, 2014

This upgrade includes the following new features and enhancements, as well as fixes for previously reported issues:

  • A new “look and feel” has been applied to balanceAAP for improved usability
  • RDS is now renamed to BALANCEhub.
  • Modifications were made to BALANCEhub Permissions.
  • Access to BALANCEhub will now be controlled through the balanceWORKS User Permissions page.
  • BALANCEhub user permissions will now be controlled through the balanceAAP Profile Management page.

  • Summaries across sub plans for Utilization, Adverse Impact, and Goal Attainment will be available in the BALANCEhub Dashboard
  • Data Enhancements for the Individuals with Disabilities (IWD) and Protected Veterans Regulations:
    • Roster and Applicant Data Tables have been modified to begin tracking IWD metrics.
    • The Applicant Table has been modified to include a Protected Veteran field.
    • The Veterans Reference table has been updated to reflect new classifications for Veterans.

  • New IWD/Veterans Data Collection section to comply with the Individuals with Disabilities and Protected Veterans Regulations:
    • Hiring Overview: Calculate jobs opened and filled by Plan, Sub Plan, and Job Group
    • IWD Analysis: Calculate the IWD utilization goals by Plan, Sub Plan, and Job Group
    • Protected Veteran Analysis: Calculate the Veteran Hiring Benchmarks by Plan, Sub Plan, and Job Group – Options include support for standard Protected Veteran Hiring Benchmark, or the more in-depth five-factor analysis.

  • Updated Narratives and Reports The Narratives section has been split into three separate narratives to comply with the new regulations:
    • Minorities/Women
    • Individuals with Disabilities
    • Protected Veterans
  • Narratives now support custom headers and footers.
  • Run newly created IWD and Protected Veterans reports:
    • Data Collection for IWDs
    • Data Collection for Protected Veterans
    • Individuals with Disabilities Utilization Goals
    • Veteran Benchmarks for Hiring Analysis
    • Adverse Impact for IWDs
    • Adverse Impact for Protected Veterans

  • Modifications made to the File Consistency section and File Consistency Batch Operations:
    • General performance improvements
    • Search capability has been added to the View Employees section.
    • The ability to filter employees by issue has now been added .
    • Additional options have been added to perform Batch Operations.
    • Additional selections have been added to File Consistency Options.
  • General system bug fixes

balanceTRAK 3.2 Release - Wednesday, October 29, 2014

This upgrade will include the following new features and enhancements, as well as fixes for previously reported issues:

  • The ability to access balanceTRAK, using a Single Sign On (SSO) connection. Contact Berkshire's Product Support for more details.
  • Job Posting pages can now be set to operate in Kiosk mode, which will allow multiple Job Seekers to apply to the same Requisition, using the same browser session.
  • From the Review Requisition page, a link has been added that will take balanceTRAK users to the list of Job Seekers that have applied for the Requisition.
  • The ability to view the Cover Letter, Resume, Prescreener, and Application has been added to the Job Seekers section of the Review Requisition page.
  • The Job Seekers’ Resume search has been enhanced to include a Boolean search option, using separators “and” or “or”.
  • Additional predefined text fields for the Job Seeker’s First Name and Last Name have been added to the Email Template options.
  • Job Seekers will now receive an email confirmation when they have successfully subscribed to new job postings.
  • An “In use” icon has been added to the Approval Process list to help identify which process has previously been used.
  • Inactive and unused user Function Profiles can now be removed from the system.
  • A new Function Profile has been added that can restrict a balanceTRAK user’s ability to delete a job Requisition.
  • The ability to restrict access to specific Requisition and Job Description fields has now been added to the Data Profiles page in Profile Management.
  • Requisition fields can now be re-ordered to better meet the needs of your company’s Requisition process. Contact Product Support for more details.
  • Additional bug fixes

balanceTRAK 3.1 Release - Monday, May 5, 2014

This upgrade will include the following new features and enhancements, as well as fixes for previously reported issues:

  • An optional Workflow setting will now be available to automatically close a Requisition when the number of hires meets the Requisition’s specified number of positions
  • Individual Job Seeker Questions and answers will now be available for system data export
  • The User Permissions report has been enhanced to list active and inactive balanceTRAK users
  • Usability enhancements have been made for clients having multiple Job Posting pages
  • Enhancements have been made to the Requisition Detail, Job Seeker by Requisition, and Open Requisition reports to improve usability
  • The capability to delete Job Seekers has been restructured and placed into its own Function Profile
  • balanceTRAK users can now specify a default Application or Prescreener form on each Requisition
  • General bug fixes

balanceTRAK 3.0 Release - Sunday, March 23, 2014

This upgrade will include the following new features and enhancements, as well as fixes for previously reported issues:

  • A new “look and feel” has been applied to balanceTRAK for improved usability
  • Ability to add an EEO Statement to the Job Posting page, the Job Description page, and the Job Seeker Login page
  • System enhancements for the Individuals with Disabilities (IWD) and Protected Veterans Regulations:
    • Addition of the IWD question to comply with the new regulations and with the mandated wording
    • Modification of the default Veterans question to comply with the new regulations and with the mandated wording
    • Ability to add the newly created IWD and Veterans question to existing Self-ID form or create and manage additional Self-ID forms.
    • IWD and Protected Veteran reporting enhancements
  • General system bug fixes

balanceTRAK 2.2 Release - Monday, October 28, 2013

This upgrade includes the following new features and enhancements, as well as fixes for previously reported issues:

  • Revised application process and Job Seeker options
  • Improved Application Forms — The Job Seeker application process has been revised to work more fluidly on various browsers and devices. The application process was also enhanced to improve accessibility, and be more in line with accessibility standards, for Individuals with Disabilities.
  • Subscribe to Job Openings — Job Seekers can now sign up to receive email notifications from an organization when a job opening, fitting personalized selections, has been opened.
    • Enhanced Job Seeker Profile Page — The Job Seeker’s profile page has been redesigned to improve usability, manage their subscriptions, and enable them to better manage their profile.
    • Improved Job Description Page Customization — The Job Description page has been improved to allow for additional information from the job posting to be included with the Job Description. Additionally, the look and feel of the job description page can now be customized to match Job Posting pages

  • Separate Applicant Stage and Disposition Code fields — The balanceTRAK system now has the ability to separate the Applicant Status field into a dual Applicant Stage/Applicant Status model that better reflects hiring processes. The new feature will allow Job Seekers to be grouped by their stage in the hiring process, and their current or final disposition within each stage. Please contact Product Support for activation information.
  • Client Usage Report — A system report has been added to the Client Settings menu which shows how many Requisitions have been opened, how many job seekers have applied, and how often the system is being used by each of its users.
  • Job Seeker Limit — balanceTRAK now provides users with the ability to set a limit on the number of job seekers that can apply for a specific Requisition. Please contact Product Support for activation information.
  • Importing Job Descriptions — The ability to import Job Descriptions has been added to the Job Code table.
  • Improved Email Features
    • Selecting Job Seeker’s Requisition — When sending an email to job seeker through balanceTRAK, or sending Job Seeker information to another balanceTRAK user, a specific Requisition can now be selected for that candidate if he or she applied to more than one Requisition.
    • Attaching a Job Seeker’s Resumé to Calendar Event — When creating and sending a calendar event for a specific Job Seeker, users now have the option to include the Job Seeker’s Resumé as part of the appointment.
    • System Email Delay — The ability to delay the auto response emails to Job Seekers has been added to the Email Settings page. This is useful when you do not want a Job Seeker to be notified immediately when he or she fails a Prescreener.
  • Job Seeker Management Enhancements — The Job Seekers list can now be filtered by Flagged Job Seekers and Internal Job Seekers by using new options in the View menu at the top of the Manage Job Seekers page.

balanceTRAK 2.1 Release - Wednesday, May 22, 2013

This upgrade includes the following new features and enhancements, as well as fixes for previously reported issues:

View Selected Job Seekers — Provides the ability to select and view the Application form and Resumé for multiple Job Seekers. Additionally, Job Seekers can be flagged for future reference and have their status codes changed.

Email Jobs to Friends — The ability to forward job postings to friends will be added to the Job Posting page.

Note: This feature will not be turned on by default. Contact Berkshire’s Product Support Team to have this enabled for your organization.

Approval Process Modification — The names of existing Approval Processes can now be edited.

Approval Process Email Templates — The emails sent by balanceTRAK during a Requisition or hiring Approval Process can now be customized.

New Standard Requisition Fields — Requisition Fields for City, State, Postal Code, and Country are now standard fields in balanceTRAK.

Form Template Auditing — Form template changes can now be tracked and monitored in the Form Templates pages under Administrative Settings.

Improved Veteran Tracking — A default Reference table has been added for Veteran Status, and a designated Personal Info field to track Veteran status for future reporting.

Job Seeker Filter Enhancement — The Job Seekers list can now be adjusted to show all seekers, all seekers that have completed at least one form, or all seekers that have completed an Application form.

Expanded Form Permissions — The form permissions were enhanced to allow users to choose one of the following options: Allow form edits after job seekers have applied; allow form edits until a job seeker has applied; or allow form edits until the approval process is complete.

Attach Documents to a Requisition — The ability to attach a document to a Requisition has been added to the Review Requisition page.

Enhanced Portability of Job Seeker Resumés — All uploaded resumés will now be automatically converted into PDF format removing the need of Microsoft Word or other text editors local to your computer or mobile device.

More Flexible Email Templates — Email Templates now allow the insertion of predefined text fields into the subject line.

Improved Requisition Source Section — The Sources section within a requisition has been combined with the job posting links to provide a more intuitive and integrated interface to manage your sources. Automatic postings to job boards, such as Indeed.com and US.jobs, can also be turned on or off by Requisition, as necessary.

balanceTRAK API — balanceTRAK now includes version 1.0 of an API, allowing your IT professionals to read Job Seeker and Requisition information programmatically to integrate with your other HR systems, including Payroll and HRIS.

balanceTRAK 2.0 Release - Thursday, November 8, 2012

balanceTRAK 2.0 was updated to run on ASP.NET 4.0 and updated version of supporting libraries, such as jQuery to improve efficiency of the application and enable for expanded functionality in future releases.

balanceTRAK 1.2.2 Release - Monday, December 19, 2011

This upgrade includes the following new features and enhancements, as well as fixes for previously reported issues:

  1. The Requisitions and Job Seekers lists have additional fields that can now be added or removed to the display on these pages. Users can now display all selected fields side by side on these pages by using the [Expand List] button. Fields can now be filtered directly on these pages by clicking the magnifying class above the fields.
  2. The Customize View page now differentiates between default fields and optional fields included as part of a view. Additionally optional fields may now be reordered on this screen so that they may be displayed in a particular order.
  3. When a user searches for Requisitions or Job Seekers, balanceTRAK now stores this information for historical purposes. A new report has also been added to the Reports page, which allows a user to see all searches performed for a Requisition or Job Seeker.
  4. Inactive users are by default no longer displayed in the balanceTRAK User Management screen. Inactive users are also removed from Approval Processes, notifications, and scheduled events.
  5. An additional Profile option has been added to allow/not allow users to create a new “Basic” Approval Process when submitting a requisition or hire for approval.
  6. Job seekers now have additional options for submitting a Cover Letter when applying for a position. The Job Seeker now has the ability to manually enter the Cover Letter in addition to uploading a separate document.
  7. Users now have the ability to disable Approval Processes no longer needed. Disabled processes no longer appear as options when selecting an Approval Process for a Requisition or a hired Job Seeker.

balanceAAP Release - September 27, 2011

balanceAAP Web will be unavailable Friday, September 30, 2011 from 5 to 8 PM Eastern Time to perform an upgrade, which includes several major enhancements. Some of the new features include:

  • Drilldown Analysis and Reports – Organizations can now look at the data included in an Affirmative Action plan in smaller pieces and optionally examine the External Availability by these units. For example, Affirmative Action plans that may have satellite locations reporting in can now identify a Reasonable Recruitment Area (RRA) specific to each physical satellite location and let balanceAAP appropriately weight each area.
  • Rollup Reports – In addition to looking at data in smaller units, organizations that have taken advantage of BALANCEaap’s Multi-Plan capability can now also produce reports at a higher level that show the “big picture” of an organization, examining data across multiple plans. An organization can create multiple levels of rollups to provide this type of analysis at various organizational units. balanceAAP also provides tools to help validate the rollups defined and ensure the reporting structure created is consistent and logical.
  • Building Recruitment Areas by Zip Code – balanceAAP can now build RRAs that reflect the exact representation at a Plan, Job Group, or Drilldown. Automate building RRAs that include MSA, County or State data, or a specified combination of each. The Recruitment Area Composition report has been added to detail the Recruitment Areas that have been created or assigned by balanceAAP.
  • Enhanced Sector Functionality – Sectors are no longer limited to just departments and can now be defined by a wide variety of fields. Sector definitions can also now be imported from an external file, saving time in setting up and running Sector reports.
  • Additional Process Improvements and Enhancements – Several bug fixes, performance improvements, and user interface changes have been made to help enhance the overall user experience of balanceAAP.

balanceTRAK 1.2 Release - July 13, 2011

Berkshire is very excited to announce the latest update to balanceTRAK, which includes many new features and enhancements over the previous version.

  • Scoring Schemes – you can now score the responses of Job Seekers by assigning point values to Questions and answers, allowing you to quickly determine which candidates are the most ideal for a position. balanceTRAK will automatically score the candidate immediately upon completing a Prescreener or Application.
  • JobCentral.com integration – balanceTRAK can now automatically post new requisitions to JobCentral.com for additional exposure to potential job seekers. Posting jobs on Job Central also meets 4212 VEVRAA/JVA requirements for federal contractors.
  • Job Seeker Listing Enhancements:
    • The sort settings used on the page will be maintained when switching requisitions. Previously, the sort would automatically reset when switching requisitions.
    • An application Icon is now available directly from the Job Seeker Listing page to quickly view the Application in PDF format.

  • Copying Requisitions – balanceTRAK now allows a requisition to be copied and job seekers can be either included or excluded during the copy.
  • Sending Response Letters – when balanceTRAK is not configured to automatically send response letters, multiple Job Seekers may be selected and a response letter can be manually sent in batches.
  • Internal / External Forms – Job Seekers can now be distinguished as an internal or external candidate when initially applying for position, and will then be routed to the appropriate application form. This allows you to ask targeted questions for the type of candidate applying for the position.
  • Hiding Incomplete Applications – balanceTRAK now provides an option for a Requisition that allows you to hide candidates who did not complete the initial form for the open position.
  • Option to Make Additional Fields Required – Fields in the Employment, Education and References sections that were previously optional, can now be made required.
  • Attachments for Emails – balanceTRAK now allows for attachments to be added to Email Templates, as well as individual, customized emails.
  • Easier Requisition Approval – Approvals may now be initiated directly from a notification email received during the Approval Process. Previously, users would have to login to balanceTRAK in order to approve a Requisition.
  • Import User Access Information – balanceTRAK users with rights to manage access to balanceTRAK can now import permissions by user name to help reduce the amount of time needed to establish new users in the system.
  • Default Form Assignment – Requisitions created for a position previously staffed in balanceTRAK will now automatically pull the Prescreener and Application forms that were used for the prior Requisition for that position. Previously, these forms would have to be manually entered every time.
  • RSS Feeds for Open Positions – balanceTRAK now provides a RSS feed (Really Simple Syndication) for all jobs listed on the Job Posting Page. Job Seekers can subscribe to this feed using a variety of common applications, including Microsoft Outlook or a Web browser, to immediately see positions that become available at your organization.

balanceTRAK 1.1 Release - Monday, October 4, 2010

We are pleased to announce several enhancements and fixes for issues found since the release of balanceTRAK.

Enhancements:

  • User Access Code (e.g. Location, Dept, etc.) now appears by default on the page that lists requisitions.
  • The ability to search for requisitions by keyword has been added.
  • Application Date was added as a predefined text field for Email Templates.
  • When a predefined text field specified in an email template cannot be replaced, balanceTRAK will now warn the user before sending the email.
  • The user now has the ability to decide whether answers to questions on a job application should follow job seekers when they are copied from one requisition to another.
  • A preview for Job Description has been added.
  • A user will now be automatically taken to the User Access page after adding a user access code when they have the appropriate permissions.
  • Cover Letter icon now shows on the Job Seekers list.
  • When an application is automatically filled from a Job Seeker's Resume, schools, employers, and references that have not been verified are shown in red until the Job Seeker has verified each piece of information.
  • Additional settings have been added to the user profiles:
    • The Administrator can assign export only functionality to users who do not have access to race and gender.
    • The Administrator can determine whether a system user has rights to assign the Applicant Status for a Job Seeker.

Important issues fixed in balanceTRAK:

  • Previously, the Applicant Status drop-down box was cutting off the options. The box has been expanded to show the entire status and description.
  • An error caused by exporting a Job Description from the Edit Job Description page has been fixed.
  • Buttons that were previously not entirely displayed have been fixed.

balanceAAP Release - July 20, 2010

balanceAAP Web will be unavailable Wednesday, July 21s, 2010 from 10 to 11 PM Eastern Time to perform an upgrade including several enhancements. Some of the new features include:

  • Import from Previous Versions of BALANCEaap – Plans that have been created in balanceAAP can now be imported to use within balanceAAP Web, either as a History Sources or as stand-alone plans.
  • EEO-1 and VETS-100/VETS-100A reporting – balanceAAP Web now provides the ability to generate EEO-1 and VETS-100/VETS-100A reports from the reports section of your affirmative action plan. This also includes the ability to generate a file in the format to be submitted electronically.
  • Create and Manage Custom Aggregate Census Codes – For positions that may represent a composite of the standard occupation codes provided by the census, aggregate census codes can be used to represent the percentage of the standard codes that make up your position. balanceAAP Web now provides the ability to create and manage these aggregate census codes.
  • Create a Department Hierarchy from Supervisor Employee Number – By supplying a supervisor employee number for each employee in your roster, balanceAAP Web can now determine your reporting structure and establish your department hierarchy for use in the Organizational Profile.
  • Best Utilization Rule Report – balanceAAP Web can now indicate which Utilization Rule will produce the fewest number of placement goals in an individual plan, or across all plans when creating multiple plans from a single data set.
  • Import from balanceTRAK – balanceTRAK is now integrated with balanceAAP, and users can now import Applicant Flow Log directly from balanceTRAK into balanceAAP.
  • Additional Process Improvements and Enhancements – New process and performance improvements have been implemented throughout balanceAAP Web, including the Import, External & Internal Availability, Factor Weights and the Narratives.

balanceAAP Release Notes, 2012‑2014

balanceTRAK 1.0 Release - Sunday, May 2, 2010

Berkshire is excited to announce a new version of balanceTRAK is available, which includes several new features as well as an improved user interface.