Release Notes for
LISTSERV Maestro, version 3.0
Copyright ã
2007, L-Soft
|
LISTSERV and LISTSERV Maestro Integration | Usability | Hosted LISTSERV Lists
| Subscriber Interface and Data
Administration | Job
Management | Account
Administration | System
Administration |
Important Notice: In the
Similarly, the
Western Australian government has decided on a three-year trial of DST, which
started on December 3, 2006.
Beginning with the
3.0-1 release, LISTSERV Maestro will observe these new rules for DST.
What
impact will this have?
According to the old
rules for DST in the
LISTSERV and LISTSERV Maestro Integration
LISTSERV is a
powerful email list management software solution that sets the industry
standard. It allows you to easily manage opt-in email lists, such as email
newsletters, announcement lists, and discussion groups.
LISTSERV Maestro is a
highly intuitive, advanced email communication solution. It allows you to
manage and track sophisticated, database-driven opt-in email campaigns with a
powerful, yet easy-to-use Web interface.
LISTSERV Maestro
started out in version 1.0 as a user-friendly interface to LISTSERV’s
DISTRIBUTE command, making it easy to take recipient data from nearly any
source (databases, text files, and LISTSERV lists) and process targeted and
personalized messages through LISTSERV’s powerful mail-merge engine.
In version 2.0,
LISTSERV Maestro added a data warehouse to collect and store recipient data for
itself and for LISTSERV lists. The Maestro data administration interface also
included an easy to use Wizard for creating simple database-backed LISTSERV
lists within Maestro.
Meanwhile, the
LISTSERV 14.x series added some integration with LISTSERV Maestro. The List
Wizard became aware of Maestro hosted LISTSERV lists, and LISTSERV Maestro’s
powerful HTML message import applet became part of the LISTSERV Web Interface’s
new message sending interface. The LISTSERV 14.x series also added important
deliverability, anti-spam, and anti-virus features that benefited both
products.
Now, in LISTSERV 15.0
and LISTSERV Maestro 3.0, the two interfaces have been completely redesigned,
merging the best features of each into the other, and allowing free flow from
one application to the other.
LISTSERV 15.0 can
still function independently of Maestro, but the two products together offer
the most comprehensive email communications package on the market. With the
recent addition of HDMail, L‑Soft’s new High Deliverability mail engine,
the L-Soft software suite has become an email communications solution unmatched
in deliverability, speed, and ease of use.
The following
features are a result of this integration between LISTSERV 15.0 and LISTSERV
Maestro 3.0, and they are described in the sections below.
Single Sign-On LISTSERV
Access to LISTSERV Maestro Subscriber Pages LISTSERV
Maestro Subscriber Pages Access to LISTSERV Archives
Single Sign-On
LISTSERV Maestro now
provides an option to map LISTSERV Maestro accounts or identities to email addresses and to trust
LISTSERV’s login mechanism. Thus, once logged into the LISTSERV Web interface,
a user can select a Maestro menu option and go directly into LISTSERV Maestro
without having to login again. If a LISTSERV Maestro identity is mapped to an
email address, then the user can select which account within that identity to
use.
Where to find:
This is an advanced feature in LISTSERV Maestro 3.0. Please read Section 22 in
the Administration Manual for more information.
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LISTSERV Access to LISTSERV Maestro Subscriber Pages
The Maestro data administrator
(if given that right in HUB account management) may request that the subscriber
pages for any datasets be made accessible from the Subscriber’s Corner in the
LISTSERV Web interface. In that case, the Subscriber’s Corner menu option
becomes a pull-down menu with links to each of the available datasets in LISTSERV
Maestro. Single Sign-On can also be available to subscribers so that, having
logged into LISTSERV, they can be automatically logged in to the LISTSERV Maestro
subscriber pages that they visit.
Where to find: This is an advanced feature in LISTSERV Maestro 3.0. Please read Section 22 in the Administration Manual for more information.
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LISTSERV Maestro Subscriber Pages Access to LISTSERV Archives
For datasets
containing HLLs with archives, the subscriber pages provide links to the lists’
home page and archives within the LISTSERV Web Interface.
Where to find: This is an advanced feature in LISTSERV Maestro 3.0. Please read Section 22 in the Administration Manual for more information.
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Usability Enhancements
Several enhancements have been made to improve a
user’s ability to easily maneuver through the LISTSERV Maestro User Interface
and to quickly summarize the job, recipient, membership, and subscriber
statistics. These enhancements are described in the following sections:
Toolbar Dashboard Interactive
Drill-Down Reporting
Toolbar
Navigation within
LISTSERV Maestro now uses the same type of toolbar with pull-down menus as the
LISTSERV 15.0 Web interface. The Toolbar for LISTSERV Maestro contains menus
and icons that give you quick access to the different functions of LISTSERV
Maestro. These menus adapt to context; for example, when working in a dataset,
the Dataset menu becomes available
for performing dataset operations.
Where to find: The Toolbar is found in the LISTSERV Maestro User Interface.
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Dashboard
The new Dashboard,
displayed upon logging in, provides a quick summary of job status – what
happened recently and what is due to happen in the future.
The Dashboard is
divided into several sections, which can be rearranged or hidden so that the
information most important to each user is shown at the top of the dashboard.
The Dashboard
sections are:
·
Currently In The System
shows general statistics such as the number of jobs in progress, number of jobs
completed, etc.
·
Recently Visited
provides shortcuts to the most recently used jobs, reports, etc. This lets you
easily resume work in one area if you interrupted it to visit another area.
These are also available on the Back To
menu.
·
Jobs Due Next
shows the jobs that are due soon or overdue for authorization. Each job may now
be assigned an authorization due date so that Maestro can help you stay on
schedule.
·
Current and Upcoming Deliveries shows a list of jobs that are currently being delivered and
that are scheduled next for delivery.
·
Recent Deliveries
shows the status of jobs that were recently delivered or that had attempted
delivery and failed.
Where to find:
The Dashboard is found in the LISTSERV Maestro User Interface.
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Interactive Drill-Down Reporting
Several new types of
reports are available in the LISTSERV Maestro User Interface. These reports are
interactive charts and let you drill down for details; simply hover the mouse
over the chart to pick a particular day and get the stats for that day or drill
down to get an hourly chart for that day. The job-based reports, besides being
available to individual accounts, are also available to the site admin over all
groups and accounts.
·
Recipients Distribution over Time: A line chart that shows the distribution over time of the
recipients that were processed in the defined period, sub-divided in delivered
and bounced recipients.
Where to find: To access the Recipients Distribution over
Time report, click Report > Delivered Recipients Statistics from
the Toolbar.
·
Recipients Per Job in Period: A bar diagram that shows the successful delivered and
bounced recipients of each job in the selected period.
Where to find: To access the Recipients Per Job in
Period report, open the Recipients Distribution over Time report, then click on
an interval. In the information box that opens, click on the Recipients statistics for jobs in this
month/week/day/hour link.
·
Completed Jobs Distribution over Time: This line chart shows the distribution over time of the
jobs that were processed in the defined display period, sub-divided in
delivered and failed jobs.
Where to find: To access the Completed Jobs
Distributions over Time report, click Report
> Completed Jobs Statistics from
the Toolbar.
·
Membership and Subscriber Statistics: These line charts show dataset and list subscriptions and
signoffs over time.
Where to find: To access the Membership Statistics
and Subscriber Statistics reports, go to the Recipient Dataset Details screen.
To open the Membership Statistics report, click on the dataset in the left
pane, and then click on the Membership Statistics tab. To open the Subscriber
Statistics report, click on a list in the left pane, and then click on the
Subscriber Statistics tab.
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Hosted LISTSERV Lists Enhancements
Extensive improvements have been made to Hosted LISTSERV
Lists (HLLs), including advanced configuration features, a new list type, a
LISTSERV list wizard for cloning or converting standard lists, and the ability
to create links to traditional LISTSERV lists.
HLL
Definition Wizard – New List Type HLL Definition Wizard – New Advanced Configuration Tab Convert or Clone Standard LISTSERV Lists Linked LISTSERV Lists
HLL Definition Wizard – New List Type
A new “user defined” list type is available for creating
lists that do not fall neatly into the first three list types (announcement,
moderated, and unmoderated). Creating user defined lists is an advanced feature
that requires knowledge of LISTSERV list headers and keywords; therefore, this
list type is most suited for those experienced LISTSERV users. The behavior of
this list depends entirely on the value that is entered for the “Send” keyword.
Where to find:
To create a User Defined List, select the dataset the list
will be added to from the Recipient Dataset screen. The Recipient Dataset
Details screen opens. From the Toolbar, click Dataset > Create >
Create Hosted LISTSERV List. On the
List Type screen for the LISTSERV List Definition wizard, select User Defined List.
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HLL
Definition Wizard – New Advanced Configuration Tab
The new Advanced Configuration tab makes it easy for the
traditional LISTSERV experts to configure lists by setting the keywords they
are familiar with, while the wizard makes it easy for people new to LISTSERV to
create even the most complex lists without needing to know anything about
LISTSERV’s list header syntax.
Note: A small
number of special-purpose or obsolete keywords, such as Peers= and New-List=,
are unsupported in LISTSERV Maestro.
Where
to find: The Advanced Configuration tab is found
on the List Type screen of the LISTSERV List Definition wizard when creating
any Hosted LISTSERV List.
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Convert or Clone
Standard LISTSERV Lists
A new wizard lets you convert a traditional LISTSERV list
and turn it into an HLL. This allows you to add data fields and provide default
values. The subscribe time from the LISTSERV list is imported as well;
therefore, the interactive Subscriber Statistics report can be used effectively
on lists that have existed for years. Alternatively, you can clone an existing
LISTSERV list, creating a new list with the same configuration and importing
its subscribers.
Where to find: To convert or clone an
existing LISTSERV List, go to the Recipient Dataset Details screen. Click on
the dataset that you want to add the list to in the left pane, and then click Dataset > Create > Convert or Clone
Standard LISTSERV List from the Toolbar. The Clone and Convert Standard
List screen opens. Select the list that you want to convert/clone from the
drop-down menu. The settings and values for the list are displayed. To convert
the list, simply leave the settings as they are. To clone the list, click Refine Settings and enter a new
name for the list. In the
Refine Settings wizard, data fields may be added and list settings may be
altered, if desired. Click [OK] when you are finished.
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Linked
LISTSERV Lists
Now you can create a "link" from your dataset to
any existing traditional LISTSERV lists. Once linked, the list is integrated
into the membership area so that the subscribers can perform the usual tasks
from within the membership area, i.e. subscribe / unsubscribe / edit settings.
As with all the Maestro subscriber pages, the list pages for linked LISTSERV
lists are customizable.
With these linked LISTSERV lists and the ability to import
traditional LISTSERV lists into HLLs, it is easy to transition from LISTSERV to
LISTSERV Maestro. Existing lists can be kept exactly as they are or imported
into HLLs, and new HLLs and HRLs can be added as well. Lists of all types can
be presented to subscribers from a single subscriber interface or split among
multiple subscriber datasets, each with its own set of subscriber pages.
Note: This feature
is a result of the LISTSERV and LISTSERV Maestro integration. Be sure to read the information on this integration before linking lists.
Where
to find: To create a link, go to the Recipient
Dataset Details screen. Click on the dataset in the left pane, and then click Dataset > Refresh and Manage Linked LISTSERV Lists. The Manage Links LISTSERV
Lists screen opens. From here, define which normal (not hosted) LISTSERV lists
that exist on your LISTSERV server will also appear in the selected dataset.
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Subscriber Interface and Data Administration Enhancements
Several
enhancements have been made to improve the data administrator’s ability to
manage both data and subscriber information, including a setting that lets
members signup without a password, a setting that lets members save their
password for a quick login, and a new way for members to unsubscribe from a
list. These enhancements, plus more, are described in the following sections:
Signup without a Password Quick Login Unsubscribe Pages Subscriber Options Special List Mailing Condition
Signup without a
Password
If desired, it
is now possible to request that the password field not be displayed on the
automatically generated pages for joining a dataset or subscribing to a list.
In that case, a password is automatically assigned and sent to the subscriber
in the subscription confirmation email. Of course, for security and privacy,
existing subscribers are still required to provide a password for making
changes to their subscriptions and data.
Where to find: The
data administrator needs to go to the General screen of the Recipient Dataset
Definition wizard, and then click the Member
Password drop-down menu to select
how the password will be defined. To signup without a password, select The member will get a system defined
password.
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Quick Login
An option is now
available for saving the password in a cookie so that the subscriber is
automatically logged on at each visit.
Where to find: To
enable this feature, the data administrator needs to go to the General screen
of the Recipient Dataset Definition wizard, and then select the Quick Login option.
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Unsubscribe
Pages
Previously,
unsubscribing from a list required either logging in to the membership pages or
clicking on an unsubscribe link in a message. New pages, which can be linked
from any web page, have been added specifically for unsubscribing from lists
without first logging into the membership pages.
Where to find: To view the unsubscribe pages, go to the dataset of
interest, and then select Dataset >
Subscriber Access URLs from the
Toolbar. The URL for the unsubscribe pages is listed here. To customize the
unsubscribe page, go to the dataset of interest, and then click on the
Membership Area Layout tab.
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Subscriber Options
·
The
automatically generated subscriber pages now provide functions that allow
subscribers to change their subscriber options, such as mail headers.
Where to find: When a member is subscribing to a list
using the Subscribe to “List” screen, then they can click the Show Advanced Subscription Options
link to view and set these options. The options available are Mail Header Style (defines the header
style), Acknowledgement of Posting
(defines how to acknowledge the posting), and Hide subscription from non-privileges users (if checked, hides from
non-privileged users). Subscribers
can also change these options for an already subscribed list by clicking on the
Edit Profile link.
·
In
addition, a subscriber’s profile now contains a section that lets the data
administer have access to these options, just as the subscriber would.
Where to find: Subscribers can be reviewed, changed,
or deleted by clicking on the list in the left pane of the Recipient Dataset
Details screen and selecting Hosted List
> Browse / Edit Confirmed Subscribers
from the Toolbar. The Manage Subscribers of Hosted List screen opens. Each
email address is a link that opens the profile page. Click on the email link
for the subscriber profile that you want to edit. The Subscription Options section of the Edit Subscriber – List Specific
Fields screen contains the options for editing.
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Special List Mailing Condition
In a LISTSERV
condition (LISTSERV list target groups with the special list message defined),
it is now possible to prefix the parameter name with the “text:” string.
Because of this, a parameter that is immediately enclosed with quotes will be
interpreted as a text-parameter, and a parameter that is not immediately
enclosed with quotes will be interpreted as a number-parameter unless the
parameter name starts with “text:”; in which case, it will also be interpreted
as a text-parameter.
Where to find: This text-parameter can be entered on the Source Details
screen for a Special List Message when creating a Classic LISTSERV List Target
Group.
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Job Management Enhancements
Numerous
enhancements have been made to make job management easier to perform. These
enhancements include:
·
A
due date can now be assigned to each job. The Dashboard lists the jobs that are due next and the Open Jobs list shows the due
date, making it easy to find the jobs that require attention.
Where to find: From the Start New Job screen, click
on the Show Advanced Option
link. In the Authorization Due By
fields, enter the date and time that you want the mail job to be authorized for
delivery by. You can also change this date and time on the Change Job Information
screen (up until the job is finally authorized for delivery).
·
Jobs
can now be assigned to categories.
Where to find: On the Start New Job screen or the Change Job Information
screen, click the Job Category
drop-down menu and select the category you want the job to belong to. To create
a new category, click the Define New
Category link and then enter the name of the category in the Job Category field.
·
The
three job lists – Open Jobs, Ongoing Jobs, and Completed Jobs – can be made to
show jobs in specific categories.
Where to find: Go to the Opens Jobs list, the
Ongoing Jobs list, or the Completed Jobs list, click the Display jobs with category drop-down menu, and then select the job
category you want to view in the list.
·
Jobs
can be automatically archived a set number of days after delivery. The
administrator can provide a default setting for all users as well as for each
group or single user. Job owners can change the auto-archive setting for
individual jobs.
Where to find: From the Start New Job screen, click on the Show Advanced Option link. Click
the Auto-Archive drop-down menu and
select whether or not you want to automatically archive the job. The
administrator can also set the default for this feature. Go to the
Administration HUB, click the Global
Component Settings icon, and then click Maestro User Interface. The Component Administration for Maestro
User Interface screen opens. Click Default
Auto-Archive Settings to open the Auto-Archive Settings screen. Auto-archiving
for an existing job (i.e. open jobs, ongoing jobs, or completed
jobs) can be set by selecting Mail Job
> Job Info from the Toolbar.
·
All
three job lists – Open Jobs, Ongoing Jobs, and Completed Jobs – have a filter
that can be used to narrow down the list of jobs displayed. This makes it
easier to find jobs fitting certain characteristics.
Where to find: Go to either the Open Jobs screen, the Ongoing Jobs screen,
or the Completed Jobs screen, and then click the Advanced Filter Settings link. The Advanced Filter Settings
will be displayed. These settings will vary depending on the screen you are on.
Enter the information for which you want to sort the job list.
·
In
all three job lists (Open Jobs, Ongoing Jobs, and Completed Jobs), it is now
possible to select several jobs at once to perform group actions such as
deleting or archiving the jobs, or assigning them to a category.
Where to find: Go to either the Open Jobs screen, the Ongoing Jobs screen,
or the Completed Jobs screen, and then click Mail Job > Multiple Job
Actions > Enable Multiple Job
Actions from the Toolbar. The screen will refresh and each job will have a
checkbox next to it. In addition, the Mail
Job menu will show additional options that can be performed for several
jobs at once. To manipulate several jobs at once, check all jobs that you want
to edit and then select the desired option from the Multiple Job Actions submenu (located on the Mail Job menu). Once the Multiple Job Actions feature is enabled on
one job list screen, then it will be enabled on all of them until you disable
it again.
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Account Administration
Enhancements
Several enhancements have been made to improve the
administrator’s ability to manage and protect a user’s accounts. These
enhancements are described in the following sections:
User Identities Displaying
Users by Group Advanced Security
User Identities
The LISTSERV Maestro
administrator may now define “identities” in the Administration Hub. An
identity is a collection of several accounts, which may be single user accounts
or group accounts, within the same group or in different groups. When logged in
to an account that is a member of an identity, a user may switch to any of the
other accounts in that identity without having to log out and log back in again.
For example, a
university may have a group that handles admissions-related mailings, another
group for faculty communications, and yet another group for alumni relations.
Though the groups are distinct, they may share one technical staff member who
handles the data administration for all three groups. An identity may be
defined for the three data administrator accounts owned by this staff member to
facilitate moving between the three accounts. Additionally, non-privileged
accounts owned by the same staff member could also be assigned to that identity
so that the data administrator can easily check what is available to the other
accounts in the group.
Where to find: To
create a new identity, the administrator must login to the Administration Hub, go
to the Administer User Accounts and Identities screen, and then click the [Add Identity] button. The Define
Identity screen opens. Enter the identity’s name, and then select the accounts
that you want in the identity.
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Displaying
Users by Group
The LISTSERV
Maestro administrator can now sort the Administer User Accounts and Identities
screen to show users in a specific group, all users in all groups, or all users
that don’t belong to a group.
Where to find:
The administrator must login to the Administration Hub, go to the Administer
User Accounts and Identities screen, and then click on the Display accounts drop-down menu to select the sorting method.
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Advanced Security
The LISTERV
Maestro administrator may now define the number of allowed unsuccessful login
attempts a user can have before being locked out of the LISTSERV Maestro User
Interface or Administration Hub. This additional security is a good way to
protect against dictionary attacks, which is a technique used to gain illegal
access to a system by automatically employing a list of words in a dictionary
to determine the login password for a given user account. The effectiveness of
such an attack can be reduced by only allowing a limited number of invalid
login attempts and by locking access to the account for a certain period of
time.
Where to find: To
enable this feature for the User Interface, the administrator must login to the
HUB, and then click the Global Component
Settings icon. Click Maestro User
Interface, and then General
Administration. To enable this feature for the HUB, the administrator must
login to the HUB, and then click the Global
Component Settings icon. Click Administration
Hub, and then General Administration.
In the Advanced Security Options
section (on either screen), define the number of allowed unsuccessful login
attempts within a set period of time a user can have before being locked out.
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System Administration
Enhancements
Several
enhancements have been made to make system administration easier to perform. These
enhancements are described in the following sections:
Including
the Job ID in the Message-ID Header Remote
Log Access Globally Closing Datasets for Maintenance
Including the Job ID in the Message-ID Header
The LISTSERV
Maestro administrator now has the ability to include job IDs in the message-ID
header for all outgoing emails.
Where to find:
The administrator can define this setting in the INI files. This is an advanced
feature. For more information, see Section 20 of the Administrator’s Manual.
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Remote Log Access
The three
main LISTSERV Maestro components all write their own log files. These files can
be found in the “logs” subfolder of each component’s home folder inside of the
installation folder. However, in some situations the administrator does not
have access to these folders, but still wants to access the log files. To solve
this, LISTSERV Maestro offers remote log file access. The remote access allows
an administrator to download the log files from the server, directly in the
web-browser.
Where to find:
This is an advanced feature in LISTSERV Maestro 3.0. Please read section 1.2.1
in the Administrator’s Manual for more information
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Globally Closing Datasets for Maintenance
The LISTERV
Maestro administrator can now define whether or not all datasets are closed for
maintenance. This will globally close all datasets for maintenance (in
preparation of a server upgrade, etc.). This setting overrides all individual
dataset settings.
Where to find:
To enable this feature, the administrator must first login to the HUB, and then
click the Global Component Settings
icon. Click Maestro User Interface,
and then Default Hosted Data Settings. In the Dataset Maintenance section, check the All
datasets are closed for maintenance option.
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