For the last three months, Intent Strategy Group (ISG) has been helping enterprise clients migrate from the Cvent Classic Requester Portal, Meeting Request Form (MRF) and reporting to the new Cvent Access Portals.

Cvent Access Portal Overview

There are at least three ways in which to migrate to Cvent Access Portals. Understanding the pros and cons of each to determine the right approach for your organization is the first step in a successful migration. The average migration is taking a few to several months depending on the complexity of the project. There are also system downtime factors to be considered, all of which needs to happen prior to Cvent’s quickly approaching December 31, 2021 (currently scheduled) sunset date.

With less than a year to reevaluate your MRF, define new data requirements, create new supporting processes, design the new portal, merge or archive existing content and train users, some companies have either stopped dead in their tracks during the planning process, or have reactively begun migrating. Unfortunately, both of these responses miss the opportunity to take a more deliberate and thoughtful migration approach and capitalize on the chance to integrate new or significantly enhanced solutions.

Click here to learn more about Cvent Access Portals.

To help our clients and other organizations with this transition, we asked our experts to share some of the tips and tricks they learned while managing these projects.

[Q] What is the most discussed new feature?

“My clients knew it would look better, that it would be simpler and streamlined, but they were unexpectedly delighted by how good it looked and how we were able to design it to seamlessly match their intranet branding, look and feel. They have received lots of positive comments about the final product, especially from their marketing department.”

– Michelle Shemon

“The most discussed new feature is the new and improved look of the Access Portal interface.”

– Joann Fegley

“The updated requester experience has been fantastic, taking the form from a rather antiquated webpage to a modern, responsive, streamlined registration form has been thrilling. Gone is the frustrating ‘refresh to the top’ of the webpage when a field with logic is answered!” 

– Bridget Wagner

“The improved user experience is the most exciting aspect of Access Portals, Reporting and new MRF. In particular the MRF that may have involved significant scrolling to work through is greatly condensed and streamlined.”

– Becky Sandeen

“The modernized design of the Access Portal, fully able to support an organization’s branding guidelines.”

– Linsey Giant

[Q] What is the one warning you’d share before getting started?

“A new MRF is a great opportunity to revamp your company’s form to add new data points and remove extraneous information. Before you start making changes be sure you understand how changing answer values in event custom fields, especially with advanced logic, will impact your historic data.”

– Bridget Wagner

“Take the time to understand exactly how migrating or creating a new MRF will affect your historical data. It is worth the time to talk through options to understand exactly which scenario is best to migrate to the new MRF platform, based upon amount of data, hidden fields, workflow changes needed, and external reporting systems. Also, plan that the project could take longer than expected.”

– Michelle Shemon

“Don’t move too quickly. Make sure that you review the pieces that are currently being used, as well as those that haven’t been used in ages, to move over what really matters. Be sure any updates and changes are discussed with all of the stakeholders.”

– Joann Fegley

“Make sure you allow enough time and be proactive about your migration strategy, accounting for some down time.”

– Becky Sandeen

“Don’t just jump over to Access Portals, but instead be thoughtful and strategic.  This is an opportune time to re-think how you are using the portal and capturing information and maximize what the new features have to offer.”

– Linsey Giant

[Q] If you could give one piece of advice what would it be?

“This is a great time to evaluate your meeting request form(s) and internal processes. What has changed over the past year that can be streamlined? What additional data needs to be gathered to provide more detailed end-of-year reports? As the new meeting request form platform has more robust visibility logic, questions may be able to be hidden or eliminated, or even separate MRFs may be combined with sections visible to only certain users.”

– Michelle Shemon

“This is a big change for your requesters so naturally there may be some resistance to change.  Make sure the technology transition to Access Portals is well communicated.  The big headline is your requesters and stakeholders will have 1 point of entry for meeting registrations, important corporate event information, event calendars and reports.”

– Bridget Wagner

“Make sure you understand the pros and cons of the approach to take before migrating.”

– Becky Sandeen

“When planning your timeline and transition, decide if you want to launch your portal and MRF at the same time or launch your portal and then migrate your MRF.  The prior is easier for a large group of users to comprehend as one change, instead of a 2-step process. But you need to assess your needs of the Access portal and the MRF to determine which is best for your needs.”

– Joann Fegley

[Q] What is one problem that moving to Access Portals solved for your client?

“The new MRF can have multiple layers of sub-questions so requesters only need to answer questions pertinent to their event and aligned with corporate meetings policy.”

– Bridget Wagner

“Better user experience and capturing more meaningful data.”

– Linsey Giant

“Migrating the MRF to the new platform allowed for more robust and targeted questions for one particular business line, which was a big win for adoption of the system by that group.  They also were able to add fields to gather more cancellation and budget data for better reporting with the new report framework.”

 – Michelle Shemon

“Having meeting and event information, meeting registration, calendaring and reporting in one place, on an Access Portal, streamlines and improves the user experience.”

 – Becky Sandeen

The Final Word

Given the industry disruption brought about by the global pandemic, new business requirements are being woven into existing processes and technologies. For clients, especially those with a slimmed-down staff, leveraging ISG’s consulting support to manage what can be a complex, time-consuming migration project could shave weeks off the overall effort.

ISG would identify areas where processes and technology could be enhanced to address today’s new M&E needs and take advantage of new features, while streamlining workflow. ISG can also help keep the project on track, advocate for client’s needs with Cvent and customize the design of the portal and MRF to incorporate organizational branding.

Finally, ISG would ensure that your project is a success by effectively managing all key communications and user training. If you find yourself wondering how to get started, ISG is here to help.