Internal guide · For the team

How to run the Med&X portal

A plain-language walkthrough of every job you'll do in the admin portal — written so you never have to guess. Pick a task on the left. Each one is a short list of steps, what the screen looks like, and the one thing to watch for.

~2 minutes per task Nothing sends without your approval Stuck? Ping Alen
01

Send a newsletter

A newsletter is an email that goes to every member who has an account in the member portal. Use it for announcements, event invites, and monthly updates.

Where: Newsletter in the left sidebar
  1. In the sidebar, click Newsletter.
  2. Write a subject line (what shows in the inbox) and the body. Keep it short and warm — the portal adds the member's first name automatically.
  3. Use the Preview panel on the right to read it exactly as a member will see it.
  4. Click Send (or Schedule if you want it to go out later). It does not fire instantly — it is queued for approval in the outbox first.
  5. Go to the outbox (task 02) and approve it. That is the moment it actually mails out.
Screenshot placeholderNewsletter composer with the subject field, body editor, and the live Preview card on the right.
What can go wrong: a newsletter looks "sent" but sits unsent because nobody approved it in the outbox. Always finish in the outbox.
02

Approve outgoing email (the outbox)

The outbox is the safety gate. Every email the portal wants to send — newsletters, event replies, the post-event round — waits here until a human approves it. Nothing leaves Med&X without a click.

Where: the Outbox panel (dashboard and inside Message members)
  1. Open the Outbox. You'll see a list of emails waiting, each with the recipient and a preview.
  2. Click one to read the full message. Check the name, the greeting, and any dates or prices.
  3. If it's right, click Approve — that sends it. If it's wrong, click Discard and fix the source (e.g. the newsletter or the reply).
  4. Approve them one by one for important mail, or use Approve all once you've skimmed the batch.
The rule: the outbox is the only door email leaves through. AI drafts, bulk emails, and the post-event round all land here first — approving is always the final human step.
Screenshot placeholderOutbox list with pending emails, each showing recipient + preview and Approve / Discard buttons.
What can go wrong: clicking Approve all without reading sends every draft, including ones half-written. Skim each recipient first.
03

The Action Center

The Action Center is the to-do list at the top of the dashboard. It watches the whole portal and surfaces the few things that actually need you today — an unpaid registration, a member message, a sponsor to follow up. If it's empty, you're caught up.

Where: top of the Dashboard (the home screen)
  1. Open the Dashboard — the Action Center sits at the top with a count badge.
  2. Read each item. It tells you what happened and what to do (for example, "3 registrations paid by bank transfer — confirm them").
  3. Click the item's button to jump straight to the screen that fixes it.
  4. Do the task, come back, and the item disappears on its own.
Screenshot placeholderDashboard with the Action Center card at top, a numbered badge, and a short worklist with jump buttons.
What can go wrong: ignoring the Action Center means paid attendees stay marked "unpaid" and members wait for replies. Clear it daily during event season.
04

Post to social (Publer)

Social posts are written and approved inside the portal, then handed to Publer — the tool that actually schedules them onto Instagram, LinkedIn, and the rest. The portal never posts to social directly. Publer is the doorway, exactly like the outbox is for email.

Where: PR & Media in the sidebar
  1. Go to PR & Media and open the post you want (or draft a new one, on your own or with AI).
  2. Check the caption and image. Fix anything before it goes out.
  3. Click Approve & send to Publer. The post moves into Publer's schedule.
  4. Finish the timing in Publer itself (log in at publer.com) — pick the exact day, time, and channels there.
If you see "Publer: not connected": the link needs an API key. That's a one-time setup on Render (PUBLER_API_KEY + PUBLER_WORKSPACE_ID) — see the Runbook or ask Alen. Until then, approved posts are saved but not scheduled.
Screenshot placeholderPR & Media post card with caption, image, and the "Approve & send to Publer" button.
What can go wrong: approving in the portal is not the same as it being live — the post still needs a day/time set in Publer, or it just sits as a draft there.
05

Plan content with AI

The Content studio uses AI to draft newsletters, social captions, and replies for you. It writes the first version — you always read, edit, and approve. Think of it as a fast intern, not an autopilot.

Where: Content studio in the sidebar
  1. Open Content studio and tell it what you need — for example, "a warm newsletter announcing the Gala, 150 words."
  2. Let it draft. Read the result carefully and edit the tone, facts, dates, and names.
  3. Send the draft where it belongs — into a newsletter, a social post, or a reply.
  4. It still passes through the normal gate: email waits in the outbox, social waits for Publer. Approve it there.
Screenshot placeholderContent studio with a prompt box, the AI draft, and buttons to push it to a newsletter or social post.
What can go wrong: AI can invent a date, a price, or a speaker name. Never approve a draft you haven't fact-checked against the real details.
06

Event day: scanning + check-in

At the door you check people in by scanning the QR code on their ticket. It works on a phone, and it keeps working even if the venue wifi drops — scans queue up and sync when you're back online.

Where: the round QR button (bottom-right, on every screen)
  1. Sign in on your phone and tap the QR scanner button (bottom-right corner). Scanner staff see this the moment they log in.
  2. Point the camera at the attendee's ticket QR. A green check means they're in. A red one means already used or wrong event.
  3. No QR? Tap Search, type their name or email, and check them in by hand.
  4. Watch the live checked-in count so you know the room total at a glance.
  5. If wifi drops, keep scanning — a small badge shows queued scans that sync automatically once you reconnect.
Give volunteers the "Scanner staff" role (task 10). They get the scanner and nothing else — no finances, no settings, no deletions.
Screenshot placeholderPhone camera view scanning a ticket QR, with a green success check and the live checked-in counter.
What can go wrong: a red screen usually means the ticket was already scanned — check the name before waving someone through twice.
07

After an event: the post-event round

Once an event is over, the portal helps you close it out — thank-you emails to everyone who came, a nudge to no-shows, and a short feedback question. It drafts the whole round, and you review and approve.

Where: Message members / the event's page, then the Outbox
  1. Open the event and start the post-event round (thank-you + feedback).
  2. The portal drafts each part — a thank-you for attendees, a "sorry we missed you" for no-shows, and a feedback ask.
  3. Every draft is staged in the outbox. Read them, edit if needed.
  4. Approve in the outbox to send. Nothing goes out until you do.
Screenshot placeholderPost-event round view showing the three staged messages queued in the outbox for approval.
What can go wrong: the thank-you goes to attendees and the nudge goes to no-shows — if check-in was sloppy, the wrong people get the wrong note. Confirm the door scans were clean first.
08

Upload the bank statement

Some people pay by bank transfer, so the portal can't see the money automatically. You upload the bank's CSV file and the portal matches each payment to the right registration, so those people finally show as "paid".

Where: Finances → Reconcile Payments tab
  1. Export a CSV statement from the bank (online banking → export transactions).
  2. In the portal go to Finances → Reconcile Payments and click Choose file. Croatian exports (semicolons, comma decimals) are detected automatically.
  3. Check the column mapping — Date, Amount, Payer, Reference — using the little preview table.
  4. Click Import & Match. The portal lines each transfer up with an unpaid registration.
  5. Confirm each match with one click. That marks the person paid and triggers their invoice.
Screenshot placeholderReconcile Payments tab: file picker, the column-mapping dropdowns, and the 5-row preview table.
What can go wrong: if the Amount column is mapped to the wrong field, matches fail or attach to the wrong person. Always eyeball the preview before Import & Match.
09

Edit what members see (Member Ops + Content studio)

Two screens control the member experience. Member Ops is people — approve new members, edit accounts, help with access. Content studio / Portal Content is the pages and cards members see when they log in.

Where: Member Ops and Content studio / Portal Content
  1. Open Member Ops to see the member list. Approve pending sign-ups, and fix a name or email when someone asks.
  2. Open Content studio / Portal Content to edit the text, cards, and event pages members see inside their portal.
  3. Make your change and Save. Members see updates the next time they open that page.
  4. Not sure it looks right? Open the member portal yourself and check the page as a member would.
Screenshot placeholderMember Ops list of members with approve/edit controls, next to the Content studio page editor.
What can go wrong: editing member content is live — a typo in a card shows to everyone immediately. Re-read before you save, then check the member view.
10

Add a teammate

Give someone their own login so they can help — either a Scanner staff account (door check-in only) or a Full admin account (everything). Each person gets their own email and password. Never share one login.

Where: Team Access in the sidebar (under "System")
  1. In the sidebar, click Team Access.
  2. In Add or update a team member, type their email and first name.
  3. Pick a role: Scanner staff for door volunteers (check-in tools + System Health only), or Full admin for a co-organiser who needs everything.
  4. Set a starter password (6+ characters). They'll use it to log in — they can change it later.
  5. Click Save member. They appear in the list below with a role badge, and a line under the form shows the exact sign-in address to send them — along with their email and the password you set.
  6. When someone leaves, click Revoke next to their name to remove all access instantly.
What each role can do: Scanner staff see only the QR scanner and System Health — no finances, settings, member data, or deletions. Full admin can do everything you can. Default to Scanner staff unless they truly need more.
Screenshot placeholderTeam Access form (Email, First name, Role, Password) with the team list and ADMIN / SCANNER STAFF badges below.
What can go wrong: a new member needs a password (6+ chars) — leave it blank and the save fails. And you can't revoke your own account, so you never lock yourself out.
11

Grow the Biomedical Forum

The Biomedical Forum is our standing circle of senior Croatian and international biomedical leaders. The portal turns a long list of names into a steady, dignified stream of invitations — one warm email at a time in the president's voice — and brings only the people who need a personal answer to you.

Where: Biomedical Forum → Candidate pipeline tab
  1. Import the list. In Candidate pipeline, click Import list and upload the Excel or CSV of names. Columns match up on their own — check them and import. People already known (members, applicants, or names already on the list) are shown and never added twice. Croatian letters (č ć đ š ž) are kept exactly.
  2. Verify who belongs. The portal does a quick background read on each name — is this a Croatian working in biomedicine? — and gives a confidence note. Open Needs review, glance at each card, and click Verified or Rejected. Verified names join the invitation queue. There is a Google shortcut on each row when you want a second look.
  3. Launch the campaign. At the top, in Forum growth, check the daily rate (how many invitations go out per day) and read the wording under Template & settings. When it looks right, click Approve & start. From then on the portal quietly queues that day's batch — you never send by hand.
  4. Watch it grow. The funnel shows imported → verified → invited → replied → accepted with the percentage that moved to each step. Going out next names who is invited next, and you can Pause or Resume the whole thing with one click.
  5. Handle the replies. When someone asks a simple question (dates, cost, what the Forum is), the portal drafts a warm answer in the president's voice and parks it in the outbox for you to approve. When a reply needs a real personal touch, it comes to you and the president under Needs the president's eye — open it, read the reply, then Accept (which sends the membership invitation) or Decline.
The rule: nothing emails on its own. Invitations, follow-ups, and drafted replies all wait in the outbox for your approval, and accepting a member sends the same personal invitation link the Forum applications use.
Screenshot placeholderThe Forum growth funnel (imported → verified → invited → replied → accepted) above the candidate pipeline list, with the "Needs the president's eye" strip.
What can go wrong: a red "N needs you" badge means a senior colleague is waiting on a human answer. Clear it so no one is left without a reply — and remember, the invitations only flow while the campaign says Running, not Paused.
12

Run the Med&X Accelerator

Once a year the Med&X Accelerator opens for applications, a committee reads and scores them, and every applicant receives a warm answer. The portal carries the whole cycle from the open date to the final letter, and nothing is sent to an applicant until you approve it.

Where: Accelerator → Review tab, plus the Outbox
  1. Open the intake window. Applications only appear when the window is open. Set the open and close dates for the year, and members see the application form during that time. Before it opens they see a friendly "coming soon" card and can ask to be notified.
  2. Approve the rubric. In the Review tab, open Rubric. This is where you decide what the committee scores and how much each part counts. Edit the criteria and their weights until the weights add up to one hundred, then set the cycle to Active. Editing the rubric is how you approve it, so nothing is fixed in advance.
  3. Invite the reviewers. In Reviewers you see your own team as internal reviewers, and you can add outside experts as external reviewers. Adding an external reviewer creates a private link. Use Invite to place the bilingual invitation in the outbox for your approval, or copy the link and share it yourself.
  4. Assign the applications. In Assignments, click Auto-assign to spread the applications evenly across the reviewers, a few reviewers per application. You can also add or remove a reviewer on any single application by hand.
  5. Watch the progress. The Progress tab shows how many applications are fully scored and how each reviewer is doing. The funnel at the top of the Accelerator page shows the whole picture, from drafts through submitted, assigned, fully scored, decided, and letters sent.
  6. Decide. In Decisions, applications are ranked by their mean score, with each reviewer's score shown next to it. Record Accept, Waitlist, or Decline for each one. If the scoring is not finished the portal asks you to confirm before you decide. A decision can be changed until its letter is approved or sent.
  7. Draft and approve the letters. From the Decisions board, draft each applicant's letter, or draft them all at once for everyone decided. Every letter comes ready in warm English and Croatian, and you can edit the wording before it goes anywhere. Each letter waits in the Outbox, and it is only sent once you approve it there. The applicant sees the outcome in their portal after the letter has reached them.
The rule: no applicant ever hears the outcome before you approve it. Reviewer invitations and decision letters all wait in the Outbox for your approval, and the private committee notes never appear in any letter.
Screenshot placeholderThe Decisions board with applications ranked by mean score, the Accept, Waitlist and Decline buttons, and the letter status under each one.
What can go wrong: if a decision looks stuck, check the Outbox. A letter that is approved or sent locks the decision on purpose so an applicant is never told two different things. To change a locked decision you would first stop the letter, which is why the lock is there.