Your Connection Plan is given to each mentoring connection at the start of the connection. It can be very simple or complex depending on your needs. It comes with optional bells and whistles galore, from in-system goal-setting to timed email tips called Facilitation messages. Your biggest decision pertains to that level of complexity: which features to use and how thickly you hand out tasks and facilitation messages.

This article hops above the software to discuss how to structure your program conceptually. We can help you decide what route makes sense for you, and we're also armed with examples of varied levels of structure to help you choose.

Download Guide: Determining Level of Structure in Engagements

Navigation: Manage > Matching > Mentoring Connection Plan Templates

This is the same process for circles templates.

2. Choose a template to modify. Select "edit" (shown below) to view or modify content. You may only have one template in your system, or you may have multiple. One use case for multiple templates is to duplicate the main template and shorten the timeframes for an accelerated beta test. Another use case is if you have two distinctly different durations for relationships, with one group of participants engaging for 3 months and the other group for 1 year. Just remember you must use admin matching if you want to assign pairs to various templates.

3. Create or modify existing Milestones. Milestones are your organizing principle, allowing you to define key phases of a relationship. You can group facilitation messages, tasks, and other actions under individual milestones. If you don't wish to organize tasks this way, we can disable milestones for you and your tasks will exist in one stream.
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Milestones can be collapsed or expanded. If your milestones appear collapsed as in the following screenshot, click the drop-down arrow on the right to expand so you can modify them. Notice you can also click "Add Custom Milestone."

To modify the name of a milestone, hover your mouse over the milestone in expanded mode, then click the pen icon that will appear next to "Summary."

4. Add action items to the timeline. You can add facilitation messages, tasks, survey prompts, goal-setting prompts, and meeting setup prompts. These will be merged into a timeline. Tasks are denoted with check boxes and facilitation messages are denoted with envelope icons, as shown in the image below. All prompts, including meeting setup prompts, goal-setting prompts, and survey prompts, will appear with check boxes, like tasks.
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To add an item to the timeline, look for "Add a new action." You'll find this button at the bottom of each milestone (or the bottom of the entire template if milestones are disabled). A pop-up will appear from which you can select the type of action you'd like to add. Note: If you want to add a survey, make sure you've already built the survey in the Surveys tool.

5. Edit action items. To edit a task or message, select the drop-down arrow at the far right, then select "edit". To delete, select delete.

6. Decide if the new task is mandatory. If a new task does not show a due date, you must check the box labeled "Required" in order to select either a relative date or a specific date. Then you can select either "Predecessor" to schedule the task or message based on the start of the timeline, or you can select "Specific Date."

We recommend using relative dates by mapping each due date to a predecessor, typically the start date of the connection. That way, relative due dates are converted to real dates based on the start date of a partnership. Alternatively, you can use real dates within the timeline, just keep in mind that you can't reuse that template in the future unless you update every single date.

7. Map out your facilitation messages. Facilitation messages are denoted by envelope icons and are hidden from mentees and mentors within their connection plan templates. Users will see the messages upon scheduled delivery via email and system inbox. Facilitation messages are sent to the user’s inbox on their due dates. We recommend limiting messages to about once per month to avoid over-messaging users.

Users will also receive digests when tasks are upcoming or overdue, so keep "email fatigue" in mind. Other emails that may be sent during the connection period are survey reminders. Most surveys include two reminder emails (sent only if a user has not yet completed the survey). To reduce email load, avoid adding facilitation messages too close to survey due dates. Survey reminder content and timing can be configured from the Connection Plan Template after adding in an existing survey.

8. Add descriptions to tasks and facilitation messages. You can attach documents to task descriptions, making it easy for users to find a related document while working on a task.

9. Embed a resource in a task (optional). To embed a resource within a task, be sure to have your copied link on hand so that you can cut and paste it into your task description. If you want to embed one of your end user resources, such a the Guide to Timely & Effective Goal Setting, follow these steps:

Step 1: Click on resources in the left menu.

Step 2: Find and open the resource you wish to embed.

Step 3: Highlight the URL address for the resource and copy it. You can see in the screenshot below that the resource has it's own number at the end of the
URL address:

Step 4: Go back to your connection plan task to add your description and the URL for the resource. You can paste it directly into the text area, or you can embed the link within the title of the resource:

This will make the title of the resource a clickable link that will take the user directly to the resources.

10. Preview Plan. After saving your changes, select "Preview Plan" at the top right of the Connection Plan Template. This allows you to see what the Plan will look like for either a mentor or a mentee. Switch between roles to see how smart action prompts, such as meeting, goal, or survey prompts, will look to the assigned user. In Preview Mode, the action prompts should appear transformed into buttons if they're configured correctly.

11. Report on Connection progress: Go to Manage, then click on the Matching card, then click Mentoring Connections. This tool displays individual progress cleanly showing progress on tasks, milestones, and/or goals depending on the features enabled in your instance. (note: report may have different name if terminology has been customized).

The Connection Plan provides a place for mentees and mentors to engage, with messaging, deadline tracking, and easy access to resources. A few of the benefits include:

Resources and links embedded right in task descriptions: Click on a task to expand the description and see any resources that correspond to the task.

Milestones: Tasks may be grouped under a heading to show overarching phases in the mentoring relationship.

Can the admin delete the connection plan?

Customer admins do not have access to delete a connection plan. If you need to have a connection plan deleted, please reach out to the support team to delete the respective plan. Make sure there are no ongoing and drafted connections for whom the connection plan is already assigned.

What's the impact of deleting the connection plan?

Deleting the connection plan will not impact the historical user connection data.

Can we replace an existing Connection Plan template with a new version?

Yes, you can replace the existing Connection Plan template with the new version by making it the "default". There will not be any impact on the existing ongoing connections. The existing connections will continue to use the old template, while new connections will use the new template.

This means that ongoing connections will remain with the old version, while any new connections created after the change will be based on the updated template.

Can we change a connection plan that was assigned to a mentoring pair?

Admins will be able to change the connection plan only if the mentoring connections are in DRAFT state.
Admins will not be able to change/update the connection plan if the mentoring connections are in ongoing state.

However, if the connections are in ongoing state, you can change the plan by first closing the existing connection, then creating a new connection for the pair with the desired connection plan.

If a connected pair wants to extend their connection plan duration, is it possible?

Yes, it is possible to extend the mentoring connection duration by changing the expiration date for the ongoing connection. This action can be carried out by either admins or users depending on the setting selected in Connection Settings.

Navigation: Manage > Matching > Connection Settings > Allow members of a connection to change the expiration date of the connection: Yes or No.

As an admin you can navigate on the right side of the Connections page, to change the expiration date of the mentoring connection. You can also perform a bulk action if the changes are requested for all active connections.