The pTools Content Management System is the most used Irish built CMS within the Irish public sector. For over twenty years it has been the backbone of some of the most used websites on the Island, helping public administrators and civil servants to communicate effectively with citizens. Most recently, pTools has supported public service health care websites during massive traffic surges as a result of the pandemic.  The new features and functionalities of the recently launched System 7.0 version of the pTools CMS further expands the ability of civil servants to efficiently communicate their wider target audience, and colleagues. Included below are just seven of the latest updates to the pTools CMS that can only be found on system 7 (s7.0)

1. Alright stop, collaborate and listen

The new ‘Collaboration Tool’ allows CMS users to communicate with colleagues without leaving the CMS. You can send a message to any other CMS user, linking them directly to the page or piece of content that requires attention. This message will be then be sent as an email to the recipients’ email inbox. Messages can be sent to multiple (or all users) users at once. This creates an avenue for colleagues to make real time, instant decisions. This is particularly beneficial while working from home as you are no longer sitting beside your colleagues.

2. Enhanced dashboard

“At a glance” information and statistics are important to staying up to date on the resources required for your website and CMS. The new S7.0 dashboard gives users an overall view of current activities on their CMS. Features such as “pages about to expire”, “active editing”, “user activity” and more useful pieces are visually represented to users upon initial log in. Another feature which gains merit while working from home is that you can see what your colleagues are currently editing. The “Expiring pages and files” sections is useful as it will flag any pages that are going to expire from your website. If these pages are not supposed to expire it will flag that immediately and allow you to plan ahead and fix the problem before it occurs.

3. Friendly Reminders

As a user is editing pages, instant pop up notifications appear to inform the user to enable specific settings to carry out specific tasks. Highlights the call to action for the user and ensures that they work as efficiently as possible as seen in the image above”: “Not in edit mode” reminder.

4. Quickly retrieve that content that you didn't mean to delete

All deleted pages, files & locations will now appear in the new ‘Recycle Bin’. On System 6, deleted locations have to be retrieved by a developer in pTools which can incur costs. The recycle bin will hold the details of all deleted items, when they were deleted and who deleted them. Therefore, creating an audit trail of work. You can also restore these items from here.

5. Forms tool to stay informed

With all ‘face to face’ interactions severely limited, collecting information and feedback from people via your website has never been more essential. The S.70 update has a easy to use step-by-step in-built form creator. This allows you to gather information from your audience on any page of your website. The security features include only allowing selected CMS users to view the information collected from the form. The forms tool can be integrated with 3rd party softwares to collect/ store data e.g. Salesforce etc. Forms can be edited at any time from the CMS without the need for pTools intervention which avoids new costs. Users have various options to choose from- questions, file uploads & more. This ensures you are getting the optimum responses from your visitors and can get an accurate and detailed insight into your users.

6. Enhanced security and OS inoperability

As browsers and 3rd party data-base systems update their technology it is vital that your CMS keeps pace. S7.0 now has the latest technologies to keep your website working as efficiently and effectively as possible. There will be no further upgrades made to pTools CMS System 6, so although there will be no imminent risk to your website, over time as other technologies and browsers continue to upgrade you may run into issues down the line. As well as this, costs will increase for those on System 6. As System 6 is written in an older language, new development work and support work will take longer than it will for System 7 based sites.

7. More Reports & Analytics

Last but not least. This report is linked to your Google analytics account. It extracts all relevant information from there and presents it in a clear and concise fashion. Without having to leave CMS, you can access important information on your website’s visitors. The host of reports highlight how effective you are at reaching your audience and it can be used as a critical tool in analysing your engagement with your visitors.