We have released the Email Tracking feature, which will allow you to note when Candidates or References have opened the invitation or followup email sent to them. Only invitations and followup emails sent this week onwards will have this feature enabled.

To see this information, view the details of any Check Request in your My Check Requests page, and scroll down to the Detailed Update Logs section. You will soon see email opening logs included in the detailed log.

Please note this feature is in alpha and we will continue to refine it moving forward.

We have also released the following:

• Fixed bug where users cannot continue on to submitting business information upon signup
• Sample reports can now be downloaded for select Checks under Checks & Bundles section

We have made a couple of under-the-hood improvements over the past week to streamline processes.

In keeping with our 10-day SLA for servicing check requests, all requests that have pending items after the 10th day since candidate invitation will be marked as Closed. Requesters and candidates will be notified of this and you may then reply to the notification email if you still require special handling beyond this point.

We have also made some changes with candidate reminders and notifications, notably:

• Invitation emails and reminder emails will no longer mention SSS and NBI Clearance if the selected checks do not include these reports
• Link to the onboarding form will not be sent via reminder emails if the candidate has finished accomplishing the form
• Requesters may now opt not to be added to the CC list of candidate reminders (global setting.

In addition, we have improved the Check Request Form to include a list of the selected checks and inclusions directly below the check selection area. This will help you keep track of not only the checks included in your selection but also the services that are included in every check request, such as included followup emails and SMS.

Lastly, we have made the following minor changes:

• The Check Products price list will not show the product code anymore.
• Pending credit orders and pending a la carte check requests will now be checked daily (up to five days) if payment settlement is delayed.
• Fixed issue where reference-only checks do not have reports generated.
• New Smile Checks Portal users are logged in upon initial login to improve the KYB process.
• Pending credits are now removed once a check is completed or closed.
• This Updates Log is now linked on the Smile Checks Portal, under Help! section.

We've added a new feature to help you quickly see the status of your check requests: Progress Display.

For each check request in the My Check Requests screen, you will now be able to see the progress of the reports coming in for your candidate:

This will help you quickly glance through your list of check requests and have a better grasp on the status of each request. We have also made a few smaller changes to the way the check requests are displayed to increase ease of viewing your check request details.

We have also made the following fixes:

• Fixed issue where Gig Platforms Check, PhilHealth Validation, and Pag-IBIG Validation are not automatically checked for completion when onboarding forms are processed.
• Fixed issue where Gig Platforms Check are not displayed in the Reports Expected when selected.
• Reminders are now based on the invited time, instead of added time.
• For check requests paid with credits, the Payment Status field will now show "Credits Applied" instead of "Paid".
• Manual followups will now also send an SMS message to the candidate.
• Followups for reference contacts will now also show up in the Followup Log.
• Fixed issues where credit orders are not connected to the purchaser.
• Added notifications for all payment orders made through the Smile Checks Portal.
• Fixed issue where the Credit Order payment status is not updated to "Paid" after credit has been applied to the purchaser.

Due to demand, Reference-only checks are now possible through our Smile Checks Portal. Through this feature, you may now opt out of requiring your candidates to connect their work accounts to share their data, but just enjoy the Reference Check automation.

To do this, simply choose the "Reference Check" option under Step 2 when you request for a new Check:

We're also happy to announce that Gig Platforms Check is now fully live. By selecting Gig Platforms Check in the Checks Selection section when you make a check request, you can request your candidates to share their work information in popular Gig Platforms such as Upwork, Freelancer, Truelancer, and the like.

If you wish to add other checks (such as Clearance Check, Professional Credentials Check, etc) you may still do so. You may still select Identity + Employment Check to obtain traditional Employment Information from verifiable sources such as SSS and GSIS.

Once selected appropriately and the Check Request is submitted, your candidate will still receive an onboarding form to get their data and references. Unless selected, no other work accounts will be required from them.

We have also released automated email reminders to candidates' provided HR, Character, and/or Professional references. This aims to increase efficiency and speed at which reference persons provide feedback about candidates as part of their pre-employment checks.

Along with this automation, we have also made minor adjustments in the reference reminder processes we have to ensure uptime and stability, and fixed some bugs regarding issuing our Gig Platforms Check, which should now be resolved.