Generally speaking, settings are a good thing to review and configure prior to launching your program, and there are several settings you will want to review so that your users' experience with Recognize leads to adoption of the platform. Below, we have outlined the settings to take a look at and decide on prior to your company's launch of Recognize.
Program Enabled
The Program Enabled setting is worth pointing out because it controls all automated features for Recognize, aside from user sync. This includes the Anniversaries Program, engagement emails, and any Manager and User redemption reminders. Once this setting is turned 'ON,' users will begin receiving automated emails from Recognize, so it may be in your company's best interest to have it 'OFF' until you are ready to launch. To learn more about the Program enabled setting, see our article: How to Enable Automated Features (Program Enabled).
General Settings & Theming
There are some general settings and theming we recommend setting before launching for the best user experience. These include the default interval for date inputs, restricting users from editing profile avatars, and allowing 'Teams' to be shown in the Teams Directory. Basic theme customizations are available for Mid-Market customers, and additional theme customizations are available to Enterprise packages. We encourage you to make changes to your account's look and feel to align with your organization's brand standards so that the platform feels more familiar to employees when they log in for the first time. Here's a guide on how to change the look and feel of Recognize.
Security & Privacy
There are a few security and privacy settings that your company would benefit from setting prior to launching your programs, especially from a compliance standpoint. These deal with specific ways in which users can access Recognize and actions they can take to join teams or view profiles. Other security setting examples would be whether users are able to to sign up independently of a user sync or be invited to sign up through a sent recognition. Below, you will see a screenshot of where to find these settings for review.
User Management Settings
Your company's user management settings determine how users are added, removed, and updated when using an automated sync. If your company will be managing users through a user sync, these user attributes should be determined prior to launch day, and the sync should be initiated just before launch, so that you have the most recent list of users to provision accounts. To learn more about user management, see our article: User Provisioning: Adding Your Employees to Recognize.
Sign-in Options
There are several sign-in options for Recognize that your company can set up. These would be good to look at and configure ahead of launch so that the sign-in process is streamlined. Users not knowing how to log in to Recognize and encountering sign-in issues on launch day can negatively impact adoption of the platform and certainly leave an impression on user experience. Sign-in configuration can be found in the Company Admin > Settings as shown below. For more information on user authentication, see our article: User Authentication: Getting Access to Recognize.
User Settings
There are several user settings you will want to set at the company level prior to launching as well - in fact, even prior to importing users. For example, if you plan on keeping birthdays and anniversary recognitions private, these settings should be set prior to your import so that they apply to all users and not just new users that are added later. You'll also want to designate your organization's default timezone which is used for automated processes like birthday and anniversary recognitions. To see a comprehensive list of settings to review prior to user import, see our article: Settings to Check Prior to Importing Users.
Manager Settings
Additionally, there are several default and global Manager settings you will want to set at the company level prior to importing users and launching that will determine whether your Managers receive certain notifications. These settings can be opted out of at the individual level, but we highly encourage you to utilize these notifications at the company-level to encourage engagement from Managers and help increase initial adoption. These settings can be found in the Company Admin > Settings > Manager settings.