Welcome to What’s New.
As items are added to the platform we’ll document them here. This page is not updated in real time, so it could be a few weeks to a month out of date at times.
January 2025
Speaker Signup Pool (SSP) – New feature that lets members register their availability for speaking slots. When a scheduled speaker declines, the system can automatically assign from the pool based on fairness (members who’ve never spoken get priority, then longest gap). Clubs can choose between auto-assign mode or manual mode where members get notified of openings. Includes a 12-hour exclusive claim window for pool members.
PDF Schedule Generation – Published schedules now automatically generate downloadable PDFs. Two versions: an internal PDF with full contact info (officers only) and an external privacy-friendly version. PDFs are stored in the cloud and a download link is included in publish notification emails. An archive browser lets you access past schedule PDFs.
My Role History – All members can now view their own role history from the sidebar. Filter by role type or date range, and export to CSV. No longer need to ask an officer to look it up for you.
Manual Role Completion – New club-level toggle that lets officers manually mark meetings as “complete” to credit members for their roles, rather than waiting for the next schedule generation to record history automatically.
Toastmaster of the Week Can Edit Assignments – The member assigned as Toastmaster of the Week can now make changes to role assignments for their specific meeting during their access window, without needing officer permissions.
Admin Officer Role – Added a fourth officer role (“Admin”) with the same permissions as President, VP Education, and Secretary. All four officer roles now have identical access to every feature. The old “Billing Admin” concept has been removed and simplified.
Auto-Approval for Club Signups – New clubs are now created instantly when signing up, instead of waiting for manual admin approval. The club, user account, and free trial are all set up in one step with a welcome email.
Membership Expiration Date – When inviting a new member, you can now set an optional “Member Through” date. Members won’t be scheduled for meetings after this date — useful for members with known end dates.
Scheduled Maintenance Jobs – Automated daily and twice-daily maintenance tasks now run on the platform: session cleanup, role history population, API log purging, and temporary file cleanup.
Bug Fix: Schedule Creation on Meeting Day – Fixed an issue where a new schedule could be created on the same day as a meeting, potentially causing conflicts.
Bug Fix: Absence Delete Page – The absence delete page was incorrectly showing an edit form instead of a delete confirmation. Now shows proper confirmation with absence details.
Bug Fix: Experienced Evaluator Selection – Fixed evaluator assignment to properly require General Evaluator experience before being selected as an experienced evaluator.
Improved Notices & Help Text – Added contextual notices for Toastmaster of the Week abilities, absence behavior (absences don’t remove existing assignments), and clearer expired link messages explaining single-use tokens.
Terminology Update – “Accepted” is now “Confirmed” and “Rejected” is now “Declined” throughout the interface for clearer, friendlier language.
Multi-Club Absence Sync – Editing or deleting an absence now cascades across all linked clubs for members who belong to multiple clubs.
December 2025
Experience-Based Role Assignment – New algorithm option that prioritizes newer members for speaking roles, giving them more opportunities to practice. Evaluators are now matched by experience level – seasoned members evaluate newer speakers, creating better mentorship pairings.
Bulk Member Import – Import your entire roster at once using CSV. The system auto-matches existing members by email (or name) and shows a preview before importing. Great for clubs migrating from spreadsheets or syncing with Free Toast Host exports.
REST API for Member Management – Clubs can now integrate with external systems using our new API. Add members, update membership dates, or deactivate members programmatically. Requires an API key (available in Club Settings for subscribed clubs).
Profile Activity Stats – Your profile page now shows dynamic stats: total assignments, assignments this month, and pending confirmations for your current club.
Holiday Meeting Display – Holiday meetings are now hidden from the schedule grid with a clear notice shown above. Previously, holidays cluttered the schedule view.
Bug Fix: Absence Handling – Fixed an issue where members marked as “eligible for all roles” were being assigned during their marked absences. The override now correctly applies only to role prerequisites, not availability.
Session Duration Extended – Sessions now last 8 hours (up from 2), so you won’t need to log in as frequently during a work session.
Security: One-Time Confirmation Links – Email confirmation links (accept/decline roles) can now only be used once, preventing potential misuse of old email links.
November 2025
Add double-click prevention to schedule creation form – When the “Create Schedule” button was clicked, it wasn’t clear that work was being done in the background.
Club Admins, President/VP Ed/Secretary, can now accept or reject role assignments on behalf of other members when needed, with full audit trail tracking. This addresses situations where members are unavailable to respond or need assistance managing their assignments.
Password reset emails now come through correctly. They were showing as text, even though formatted as HTML message.
Bug Fix: Thursday Scheduling – A bug was forcing all clubs to a Thursday meeting date, despite selecting another date. Clubs can now choose their meeting date.
Added an Announcement feature allowing us to quickly send out messages about the platform.
October 2025
Password reset emails now send as multipart messages (HTML + plain text) to ensure they display correctly across all email clients.
Fixed cases where password reset emails rendered incorrectly as HTML-only by adding a plain-text fallback.
Reset link expiry messaging updated to indicate links expire in 3 days.
Members receive one consolidated email listing all their schedule assignments with per-assignment Confirm/Decline actions, a “View Full Schedule” CTA, and updated subject/templating.
Added a schedule deeplink route to redirect authenticated members into the schedule detail view.
Confirmation via email now redirects to the schedule detail with a success message.
Platform now requires users to accept Privacy Policy and Terms before access; consent is recorded.
Data export (JSON) and account deletion with anonymization are available.
Consent interstitial page with required checkboxes.
Delete-account confirmation page and “Privacy & Data Rights” profile section.
Read-only audit view for consent records in admin.
Full multi-factor authentication (MFA) flows: setup, verification, and disable integrated into the app and profile.
Login now routes MFA users through verification when required. Profile Security section restyled with updated colors and clearer 2FA controls and messaging. Rate limiting added to login, password reset, and mass-email actions with a dedicated “too many attempts” page.
Audit logging, caching, and related middleware/configuration introduced.
Persistent, responsive site footer with copyright, muted styling, and external Terms/Privacy/Disclaimer links.
Terms & Conditions notice added to the member-invitation acceptance page.
Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy links added to the login page.
Password Reset link updated to use internal routing for correct navigation.
Role history import now sends welcome emails to newly created members, matching the behavior of CSV import.
All three member creation paths (invite, CSV import, role history import) now have consistent email notifications.
Mobile-optimized schedule view with in-page navigation and responsive mobile layout added.
Assignment change notifications now use responsive HTML emails with a plain-text fallback for improved readability across clients.
Added templates for new assignment, assignment removed, assignment claimed, and empty assignment, featuring personalized details and a “View Schedule” button.
Increased club approval email content width from 600px to 800px for better readability.
Implements automated email notifications when role assignments are changed by admins or claimed by members, with configurable club-level settings.
New notification service for assignment changes with club-level toggle for member assignment notifications (default: enabled).
Three notification scenarios: admin changes assignment (old → new member), member claims declined role, and admin assigns empty role.
Dashboard shows dynamic upcoming assignments with Accept/Reject actions, status badges, and admin-only Recent Activity.
Updated admin action labels/icons for clarity.
Bug fix: invitation emails now use environment-aware links with correct protocol and domain.
Dashboard: Upcoming Assignments now show per-item status with Confirm/Reject actions and real-time UI updates.
Dashboard (Admin): New Recent Activity feed summarizing latest member, schedule, assignment, and absence events.
Updated Help and Import guides to use text-based role history import (replacing PDF).
Clarified steps: select and copy main content starting with “Member Detail,” then upload a text file.
Collapsible sidebar sections with saved state, accessible ARIA attributes, and auto-expansion for the active item.
Toastmaster access windows now follow meeting frequency (weekly/biweekly/monthly/custom) and focus on upcoming assignments.
Expanded email access guidance, added “Confirmed Members” recipient category.
Improved navigation UI with enhanced sidebar and mobile responsiveness.
Updated email access privileges for Toastmaster of the Week (TMOE).
Fixed subscription banner display issues.
Dynamic Toastmaster Access Period based on meeting cadence (weekly, biweekly, monthly, custom).
Real-time email preview with recipient counts.
Sidebar upgrades: collapsible admin/schedule sections with saved state and accessibility improvements.
Automatic emails during member import: welcome emails with password-setup links for new users (24-hour expiry) and login notification emails for existing users added to a club.
New HTML email templates with CTA buttons, personalized content, and plaintext fallback URLs.
Updated email system docs to reflect an active SMTP provider and email coverage for reminders, notifications, and member communications.
Login screen now labels the username field “Email or Username.”
Schedule creation includes pre-validation to catch configuration issues before running, with clearer, categorized user-facing error messages and a support contact.
Schedule creation gives explicit success/failure outcomes and guidance after attempts.
Major overhaul of project docs with structured development principles and expanded “Core Scheduling” details.
Added a comprehensive Roadmap outlining phased features and priorities.
Introduced a public Help Center with pages for Help Index, Club Settings, Schedule Creation, and Feature Roadmap (no login required).
Enhanced schedule creation with pre-checks, clearer success/partial/failure messaging, and smoother redirects.
Added structured, user-friendly error messages with guidance and support contact.
Expanded help content and roadmap details for upcoming features.
September 2025
Major UI refresh: fixed header, collapsible sidebar, content-box layout, responsive design across dashboards and lists.
Richer, accessible forms and pages: redesigned absence, profile, club profile, role config, schedule editor, reminders, and schedule options with client-side enhancements and AJAX actions.
Improved lists/cards, quick stats, and empty states.
Branding updates to “The Club Schedule”; improved labels, focus states, and accessibility.
Default sender address changed to noreply@theclubschedule.com; added CSP and security header settings.
Email-based member invitations with secure, time-limited links, prevention of duplicate pending invites, and role flags for leadership offers.
Invitation acceptance page: review club details, prefilled read-only email, password creation (min 8 chars) with inline confirmation/validation, expiration display, cancel/login option.
Added a Parliamentarian meeting role and adjusted meeting role ordering for clearer selection.
Safer, clearer role-claiming: eligibility pre-check with detailed reasons, confirmation, and admin override when editing.
Club role management: add, deactivate, and update roles from templates; inactive roles no longer appear in schedules.
Member management: new pages to view members and invite new ones.
Organization types: clubs can select type (e.g., Toastmasters, Rotary, Corporate); default roles auto-generated from templates.
Improved reliability of role updates with transactional safeguards to avoid partial changes during migrations.
(Yep. Quite a bit of a gap here. During these 3 months it was undetermined if I was going to go through with the project.)
June 2025
Add profile editing page