Before you turn on Community Feed for residents, you can fill a new association's feed with about 25 sample posts so it doesn't launch empty. Onboard Feed runs a one-time simulation in which Vantaca's content agents write posts from the association's own data. You review and edit the drafts, then approve them, and they appear in the feed as backdated history. This article covers the data check, the simulation, reviewing and approving the posts, and previewing a single agent post afterward.
Important: If your account looks different from what's shown here, don't worry! This update is rolling out gradually and will be available to you soon.
Important: You can onboard each association only one time. After you approve the posts, the simulation can't be run again for that association.
Before you start
- Role Security: Confirm your role has edit access to the Community Feed permission under Settings > Roles. Onboard Feed doesn't display without it.
- Association data: The agents write from the association's own data, including its physical address, calendar events, and amenities. The data check shows you what is missing.
- Brand voice (optional): If you already set a brand voice in Agent Settings, the simulation uses it. You can also try a different voice during the simulation.
For more information about turning on Community Feed, posting, and Agent Settings, see the "Vantaca Home: Community Feed" article.
How onboarding works
Onboarding has three steps, shown as tabs on the Onboard Feed screen:
- Data check: See what data the agents can use and fix gaps before you simulate.
- Simulate: Vantaca's agents write about 25 posts dated across past weeks. This runs in the background.
- Review: Preview the drafts the way residents will see them. Edit, regenerate, or delete any draft, then approve the set.
Nothing reaches residents until you approve, and approving doesn't turn on Community Feed or any agents. Those stay under your control.
Start onboarding
- Navigate to Settings > Community Feed.
- On the Per-association settings tab, click Onboard Feed next to the association.
The Onboard Feed screen opens with the association's name and the following tabs:
Note: After an association is onboarded, Onboarded replaces Onboard Feed in that row.
Review the data check
The Data check tab lists what Vantaca found in the association's data. It also shows the number of errors, warnings, and notes, the dates checked, and how many events the agents can see. Nothing on this tab blocks the simulation, but an error means every agent run fails until you fix it.
The data check can show the following findings:
- No physical address (error): The association has no physical address with a city and state. Add one before you simulate.
- Homeowner-only events (warning): Some calendar events are visible to homeowners only, and the agents can't see them. Make them public so they can appear in the feed.
- Events without an event type (warning): Some public calendar events have no event type.
- Incomplete amenities (warning): Some amenities are missing a description or available days and hours.
- Calendar events and amenities (notes): The number of public calendar events visible to the agents and the number of amenities set up. Confirm the amenity list is complete, because agents only know about amenities set up in CMP.
To fix a finding, click Fix in CMP (errors) or Configure in CMP (warnings and notes) next to it.
The related screen for this association, such as Association addresses, Association calendar, or Amenity settings, opens in a new browser tab. When you finish, go back to the Onboard Feed screen. The data check refreshes.
When you're ready, click Continue.
Run the simulation
- On the Simulate tab, read the summary.
Every content agent runs against this association's own data and writes about 25 posts dated across past weeks. - (Optional) Under Voice & tone, enter a Brand voice to use for this simulation.
The voice applies to this simulation only. Vantaca saves it as the association's brand voice only when you approve the posts. - Click Start simulation.
A progress bar shows how many runs are complete and how many posts have been written so far.
The simulation runs in the background and usually takes 20 minutes or more. You can close the screen and come back to it. Click Onboard Feed again to return to your progress. When the simulation finishes, click Review drafts.
Notes:
- Each association has a daily limit on simulations. Before you start one, the Simulate tab shows how many you have started today next to Start simulation. After you reach the limit, Start simulation and Re-run with this voice are unavailable until the next day.
- If you don't like the results, click Re-run with this voice to discard every draft, including your edits, and generate a new set. Change the Brand voice first if you want to try a different tone.
- Click Cancel simulation to remove every draft. Nothing is posted. In the confirmation, click Keep simulation if you change your mind.
Review and edit the drafts
The Review tab lists the drafts by date, oldest first. Each draft previews the post the way residents will see it, including the title, body, and any citations. The preview also adds a Simulated for date and the name of the agent that wrote the post, so you can tell the drafts apart. Residents don't see those two details.
For each draft, you can:
- Edit: Open the post editor to change the title, body, or citations.
- Regenerate: Replace the draft with a new post from the same agent for the same week. If you changed the Brand voice on the Simulate tab, the new draft uses it. After you reach the regeneration limit for the simulation, Regenerate is unavailable. Edit or delete the draft instead.
- Delete: Remove the draft so it isn't posted.
If the simulation produced fewer posts than the target, the Review tab shows how many it generated and why. A run can find nothing to post, or it can error. Errors usually point to a data issue, so check the Data check tab.
Note: If the simulation is more than two weeks old, a banner warns you that its posts may be out of date. Click Re-run to generate fresh posts, or approve the drafts as they are.
Approve and post the drafts
- On the Review tab, click Approve and post.
The button shows the number of posts you are approving. - In the Post these to the feed? confirmation, click Approve and post.
A message confirms how many posts were added to the feed as backdated history. - Click Close.
Vantaca dates the posts across the weeks leading up to the day you approve them, so the feed looks like it has been active all along. They appear in the Posts tab with Agent listed under Source, and you can edit or archive them like any other post.
Note: Residents see these posts only when Enable Community Feed is selected for the association. Approving the posts doesn't select it, and it doesn't turn on any agents. To go live, select Enable Community Feed for the association, then use Agent Settings to turn on the agents you want posting going forward.
Preview and post a single agent post
Use Preview Agent Post to see what one agent writes for an association, and to post it if you like it. It works for any association, whether you have onboarded it or not, and it doesn't count as onboarding.
- Navigate to Settings > Community Feed.
- On the Per-association settings tab, click Preview Agent Post next to the association.
The Preview a Community Feed post screen opens. - Select an Agent and click Generate.
The post usually takes less than a minute. - Review the post, then click one of the following:
- Edit: Change the title, body, or citations.
- Discard: Remove the post without publishing it.
- Post: Publish the post to the feed with today's date.
The screen shows how many previews you have left today. If an agent finds nothing to post, click Try another agent. If a run fails, click Try again.
Note: Posting from this screen publishes right away and isn't backdated. Residents see the post only when Enable Community Feed is selected for the association.
FAQ
Q: Can I run onboarding again after I approve the posts?
A: No. Each association can be onboarded one time. To add posts afterward, write one with New Post, generate one with Preview Agent Post, or turn on agents in Agent Settings.
Q: Why don't I see Onboard Feed for an association?
A: The association may already be onboarded, in which case the row shows Onboarded. Your role may also lack edit access to the Community Feed permission under Settings > Roles, or Community Feed may not have reached your company yet.
Q: Why did the simulation produce fewer posts than expected?
A: Some agent runs find nothing to write about for a given week, such as when the calendar has no public events and no amenities have upcoming reservations. Some runs error, usually because of missing data. A simulation can also stop early when it reaches its call or cost limit. Check the Data check tab, fix any findings, and click Re-run with this voice.
Q: Do the posts mention events that already happened?
A: The agents write each post as if it were published on its date, so "this weekend" refers to that post's week. Review every draft before you approve, and delete or regenerate any post that doesn't read right.
Q: Does onboarding turn on Community Feed or the content agents?
A: No. Select Enable Community Feed for the association to show the feed to residents, and use Agent Settings to turn on the agents you want.
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