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Freqently Asked Questions

General Contacts / Connections Communities / Discussions Library / Resources

General | Top

Q: What is the purpose of the CPMA Community?
A: CPMA Community is a new member service where CPMA members can harness the power of social networking in a professional format
to facilitate communication, and share expertise and knowledge between members. Our online community features an easy, user-friendly way to network, exchange ideas and share documents among committee members.

Q: Who can use the CPMA Community?
A: The CPMA Community is a secure environment which allows access only to CPMA members, members of CPMA committees and CPMA staff.

Q: What is my username and password?
A: Your username is your email address. You can find your username and password in your CPMA Community Welcome Email Letter.
Click here if you have forgotten your password. If you require additional assistance, please email us at question@cpma.ca or call 613-226-4187 x210.
Note: Usernames and passwords are provided to you only if you are a CPMA Member or if you are invited to join a specific Committee or Interest Group.

Q: How do I update my profile information?
A: You can either click on "My Profile" or the "Profile" link found in the Welcome box on the top right hand side.
Note: To change your company member address or to add additional contacts for my company, please click here to complete the request.

Q: How do I control what information is visible in My Profile?
A: Go to "My Profile” and click on the “Privacy Settings” tab. This will let you control what information is visible to whom. After you’ve made changes, click the “Save” button at the bottom of the page.

Q: How do I add additional people from my company to access the CPMA Community?
A: Click here to send us a message. For each person you wish to add, please provide the following information:
Company Name, First and Last Name, City, Province/State, Postal Code/ZIP, phone number and unique email address.
Please allow up to 2 business days to process your request.

Contacts / Connections | Top

Q: How do I find other CPMA members contacts?
A: Click on the “Directory” link found in the green navigation bar. The Directory lets you search for other members based on:
  • First and/or last name
  • Company name
  • Email address

or use "Advanced Search" to increase your search options.

Q: How do I find other CPMA members companies?
A: Hover over the “Directory” link found in the green navigation bar, then click “Find a Company”. The Directory lets you search for other member companies based on:

  • Company name
  • City
  • Province/State
  • Country
Q: How do I add contacts to my contact list?
A: There are several ways to add contacts. When you perform a search in the Directory, you will see “add as contact” button to the right of each person in your search results. Click this button to send a contact request to that person. You can also click the "add as contact" link while viewing an individual’s profile.

Q: Why should I add contacts to my contact list?
A: Creating this virtual address book makes it easy to send your contacts messages through the community site to stay in touch, ask questions or even build a referral network. You can also choose to let your contacts view certain demographics in your profile that other community members would not see.


Communities / Discussions | Top

Q: What are communities?
A: Communities are specific groups which allow you to participate in discussions and share resources with other members.

Q: What communities do I already belong to?
A: Select “My Communities” to view the communities you’re currently a part of. You can also view this information under “My Profile” just underneath your photo.

Q: How can I control the frequency and format of emails I receive?
A: Under “My Profile” > “My Subscriptions” there is an option for Text or HTML. By default, this is set to HTML, and we encourage you to leave it set to this if your email client can support it. However, if you are having problems viewing the HTML version or if it takes too long to open, please switch to the text version.

For each discussion, you have the following delivery options:
  • Real time: sends an email every time a new message is posted
  • Daily digest: sends one email to you each day, consolidating all of the posts from the previous day
  • Legacy: sends real-time text versions of the posts, which are compatible with Blackberries and most other handheld devices. This option also allows you to reply without logging into a web browser, but it does NOT allow you to include attachments with your post.
  • No Email: allows you to be part of the group without having emails sent to you. You can still post and read others’ messages by logging into the community site.
Q: How do I leave a community or unsubscribe from a discussion?
A: Go to “My Communities” > “My Subscriptions”. Here, you will see a list of available communities and those to which you’ve subscribed. Select “Unsubscribe” for the discussions you wish to leave and click the “Save” button at the bottom of the page. You will get a message confirming that your subscription options have been successfully updated. This can take several seconds if you change your settings for several groups at the same time. Please note that you might not be able to unsubscribe from certain communities, based on your volunteer status. In those cases, simply choose “No Emails” from the delivery options.

Q: How do I respond to others’ posts?
A: Click “Reply to Discussion” to send your message to the entire community or “Reply to Sender” to only send your message back to the sender; both links are located to the right of the post. We recommend replying to the sender for simple comments like “me, too” that add little value to the overall discussion; and replying to the entire community when you are sharing knowledge, experience or resources that others could benefit from.
From an email (HTML version) for a particular discussion forum, you can use the “Post Message” link in the right navigation bar.

All blog entries, discussions and comments will be reviewed by the moderator before they are published in the CPMA Community or committee. This may take up to 2 business days before your entry is visible to other members
.

Q: How do I start a new discussion thread?
A: Go to “My Communities” > “View” > “Discussions” >“Post a Message”.

Q: I’m having trouble viewing the HTML email messages. How do I fix this?
A: If images are not appearing, it is likely that your email client is set to suppress images. This should be something you can change in your security or viewing options. If you would rather receive text-based email, go to “My Profile” > “My Subscriptions” and select the “Text” format option near the top of the page. Be sure to hit “Save” at the bottom of the page once you’ve made this change.

Q: Can I search for posts across all the communities?
A: Yes. You can search based on keywords in the posts, search all or specific forums, and select a specific date range.

Q: How do I see a listing of all of the posts to a specific Community?
A: Go to “My Communities” > “View Discussions” > “All Discussions”. Click on “Digest” next to the Community you’re interested in. If you see a post you’re interested in, click the subject line which will take you to the entire thread. “Show original message” at the bottom of all of the posts in a thread will display the original message that started that discussion. The “Author’s Messages” link will show you all of the posts that particular member has contributed to that community.

Q: How do I change the information showing up in my signature block?
A: We have set a default signature, but if you would like to change the information that appears or the order in which it appears, click “My Communities” > “View Discussions” > “My Signature”. You can add, delete or reorganize the fields that show up in your signature by clicking the variables on the right-hand side of the screen. Please note that the content of these fields is pulled directly from your profile, so if you want to change the information itself, you will need to make the change to your actual profile.


Libraries | Top

Q: How do I find resources that may have been uploaded by other members?
A: Go to “My Communities” in top navigation bar, then “View Libraries” to find a particular library, if you know where the resource might be. If you do not know where the resource might be, visit “Communities” > “View Libraries” > “Search Library”. Enter search terms the same way you might enter search terms into google or another search engine.

Q: Can I search for specific file types?
A: Yes. Visit “My Communities” > “View Libraries” > “Search Library”. Click on “Search for Specific File Types”. This gives you the option to specify file type: Document, Image, Spreadsheet, etc.

Q: How do the libraries get populated?
A: The libraries are populated in two ways: You can upload documents directly by using the “Add a New Entry” link found under “My Communities” > “View Libraries.” Library resources are not required to be associated with a discussion. Alternately, when you include an attachment in a discussion post, the system automatically places it in the library.

Q: How do I upload a file?
A: Select the “Add a New Entry” link found under “My Communities” > “View Libraries”. Please note that uploading a document is done in a few steps, and each step must be completed before you can move on to the next:
  • Choose a title for your document, include a description (optional), select the library to which you’d like to upload it, select a folder to which you’d like to upload it (optional) and choose an Entry Type (most will be Standard Files, but be cognizant of any copyright licensed material). Then click “Next.”
  • Browse and upload your file. Click “Next” if you want to add tags to your file or click “Finish” (you may have to scroll down to access these buttons).
Q: What kind of files can I upload?
A: The system supports dozens of file types including hyperlinks, standard files (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), webinars, images and YouTube videos.