2021 CMS Status Updates

The latest news and notices about the Mass.gov CMS.

Dec. 16, 2021

Dec. 16, 2021, 12:00 p.m. - The new "Parent page" field, part of our ongoing findability project, has been released.

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Dec. 16, 2021

Dec. 16, 2021, 11:00 a.m. - We have fixed the issue with creating new temporary unpublished access links not working.

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Dec. 1, 2021

Dec. 1, 2021, 12:00 p.m. - Recap of User Group Meeting about "Parent" field.

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Nov. 29, 2021

Nov. 29, 2021, 12:45 p.m. - Reminder: User Group Meeting on new required “parent” field being held Tuesday, Nov. 30

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Nov. 22, 2021

Nov. 22, 2021, 5:15 p.m. - Save the date: User Group Meeting on new required “parent” field set for Nov. 30.

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Nov. 19, 2021

Nov. 19, 2021, 12:00 p.m. - Please take our Mass.gov Knowledge Base survey to help us improve our support resources.

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Nov. 17, 2021

Nov. 17, 2021, 5:00 p.m. - Mass Digital is improving banner styles on many content types to make Mass.gov easier to read and give authors more flexibility in designing pages. This week we’ve rolled out 2 such updates, for Information Details and Promotional pages.

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Nov. 8, 2021

Nov. 8, 2021, 3:15 p.m. - Mass.gov support will be closed on Thursday in observance of Veterans Day. We’ll return to normal service on Friday.

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Nov. 5, 2021

Nov. 5, 2021, 3:00 p.m. - We’re improving banner styles on many content types, a change that will make Mass.gov easier to read and give authors more flexibility in designing pages.

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Nov. 2, 2021

Nov. 2, 2021, 1:00 p.m. - The Mass Digital team has updated the Form content type in response to author requests to remove the default “You will need” header on the page’s rich text field. Because the header has now been removed from all Form pages, we’re asking that you review your Form pages.

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Nov. 2, 2021

Nov. 2, 2021, 12:15 p.m. - The Mass.gov brand banner is now published.

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Oct. 22, 2021

Oct. 22, 2021, 1:00 p.m. - Mass.gov starts using an official banner in October.

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Oct. 14, 2021

Oct. 14, 2021, 2:00 p.m. - We have fixed the issue with expandable accordions not opening on certain content types, including Binders, How-to pages, and Contact information.

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Oct. 14, 2021

Oct. 14, 2021, 10:45 a.m. - We're aware of an issue with expandable accordions in Binders, How-to, Contact information, and possibly other content types not opening. Our team is working on a permanent fix.

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Oct. 14, 2021

Oct. 14, 2021, 10:00 a.m. - We’ve released a major upgrade to the Organization page authoring experience that gives you much more flexibility to customize what appears on the page and how it’s organized.

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Sept. 29, 2021

Sept. 29, 2021, 5:30 p.m. - Mass Digital has changed the way it handles legacy redirects in the content management system. Neither authors nor the public should notice the change.

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Sept. 22, 2021

Sept. 22, 2021, 5:30 p.m. - Thank you to those of you who attended our Sept.15 User Group Meeting on navigation improvements and Organization page authoring updates. If you haven’t already, please fill out our survey at mass.gov/findability to share your thoughts on the planned Mass.gov changes or to ask questions. For those of you who didn’t get a chance to attend the meeting, you can view a recording.

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Sept. 7, 2021

Sept. 7, 2021, 2:00 p.m. - Save the date: User Group Meeting on changes to site navigation, Org pages set for Sept. 15.

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Sept. 3, 2021

Sept. 3, 2021, 10:00 a.m. - Mass.gov support will not be available on Monday, Sept. 6 because of the Labor Day holiday. We’ll be back to providing service on Tuesday, Sept. 7, from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

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Aug. 12, 2021

⚠ Aug. 12, 2021, 10:00 a.m. - We have designed changes to improve the flexibility of Organization pages. We’re planning to release improvements in mid-September when development and testing are done.

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July 29, 2021

July 29, 2021, 2:30 p.m. - Alerts on Mass.gov have a fresh new look that is the product of extensive user testing. It's now easier for site visitors to hide multiple Alerts at once so they can focus on a page’s main content.

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July 22, 2021

July 22, 2021, 2:30 p.m. - If you are responsible for updating page- and organization-level alerts, please take some time by July 27 to review yours because they may require updating due to an upcoming alerts redesign.

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July 13, 2021

July 13, 2021, 3:08 p.m - Starting this week, Mass Digital will begin tagging some pages as data. You might receive a watch email noting a revision was made. There will be no visual change to the pages.

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July 1, 2021

July 1, 2021, 1:30 p.m - Mass.gov support will not be available on July 5 because of the 4th of July holiday. We’ll be back to providing service on Tuesday, July 6, from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

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June 17, 2021

June 17, 2021, 11:30 a.m. - We want to let you know about an immediate change to the process for scheduling content—both HTML pages and documents—to automatically publish or unpublish on Mass.gov.

The new process, called “Scheduled Transitions,” offers the same benefits as the previous one: It helps you ensure that content displays on Mass.gov only while it is relevant and keeps the site from becoming cluttered with out-of-date information.

Scheduled unpublishing of Alerts and Promotional Pages are affected uniquely by the change.

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June 9, 2021

June 9, 2021, 11:45 a.m. - You’ve told us how valuable it is to review verbatim comments Mass.gov visitors leave on your agency’s content. With that in mind, our team has made 2 big improvements to the Feedback Manager tool in the CMS to help you more easily discover and analyze feedback. New filters let you sift through verbatim feedback using either or both specific text and content labels.

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June 2, 2021

June 2, 2021, 11:00 a.m. - You can now customize How-to page section headers

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May 28, 2021

May 28, 2021, 10:00 a.m. - Mass.gov support closed for Memorial Day holiday

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May 27, 2021

May 27, 2021, 2:43 p.m. - Register for the next User Group Meeting on June 7 from 1:30 - 2:30 p.m. We'll be discussing the new Findability and Navigation project.

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May 25, 2021

May 25, 2021, 10 a.m. - To improve security, all Formstack accounts provided by Mass Digital will require the use of 2-factor authentication as of Thursday, May 27 to log in.

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May 21, 2021

May 21, 2021, 12:20 p.m. - In the wake of a Commonwealth agency reporting an attempted phishing attack submitted via a Mass.gov Formstack form, we’re asking all users of the online forms tool to stay alert for such malicious messages.

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May 7 2021

⚠ May 7, 2021, 2:00 p.m. - Fixed: The previously reported issue with “See all” links in the Additional Resources section of several content types not working.

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April 26, 2021

April 26, 2021, 2:45 p.m. - The new Translations tool helps keep track of pages and documents in multiple languages.

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April 15, 2021

April 15, 2021, 1:00 p.m. - Mass.gov support closed for Patriots’ Day holiday.

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April 8, 2021

April 8, 2021, 9:00 a.m. - The Mass.gov team has improved the Pages Linking Here tool by extending its reach into rich text fields.

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April 6, 2021

April 6, 2021, 1:50 p.m. - You can now display images of different sizes on Information Details pages, including extra small images that are perfect for headshots.

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March 29, 2021

March 29, 2021, 11:00 a.m. - Phone number field being added to Mass.Gov ServiceNow form.

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March 25, 2021

March 25, 2021, 9:20 a.m. - You can again easily upload images using the rich text editor in the editing toolbar. Users had reported errors uploading images to Mass.gov pages but the issue has now been fixed.

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March 22, 2021

March 22, 2021, 9:30 a.m. - Update your content related to COVID-19 Travel Order & related pages.

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March 2, 2021

March 2, 2021, 11:30 a.m. - Using labels to manage and search for related content in the CMS.

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Feb. 19, 2021

Feb. 19, 2021, 1 p.m. - Use OneDrive to access Formstack submission attachments.

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Feb. 17, 2021

Feb. 3, 2021, 10 a.m. - Issue with Table of Contents and Alerts has been fixed.

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Feb. 17, 2021.

Feb. 17, 2021, 9:30 a.m. - Issue with Table of Contents and Alerts on some content types.

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Feb. 3, 2021

Feb. 3, 2021, 4 p.m. - The Organization Web Analytics Dashboard (Beta) now includes "No’s per 1,000 sessions."

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