NorthStar CCM (EngageCX 14.0/Ruby) 2025 Release Notes

New Features

Version R25.09.1 (January 2026)

MHC NorthStar CCM R2025.09.1 includes several bug fixes and an enhancement to API downloads.

MHC NorthStar CCM API Downloads Essentials Enterprise Enterprise Plus

We've updated MHC NorthStar CCM to eliminate the need for creating intermediate files when downloading a folder or workspace. This change allows file transfers to be written directly to the destination, improving the speed and efficiency of API downloads.

Version R25.08.1 (December 2025)

NorthStar CCM R2025.08.1 includes accessibility features for ensuring that templates meet the requirements of your chosen accessibility or conformance standard. Accessibility refers to digital practices that ensure content is readable and usable by as many people as possible, including individuals with impairments or that use assistive technologies. Depending on the industry or type of content, there may be regulations requiring documents to meet certain accessibility standards.

See the Communications App Guide for usage intructions.

Accessibility Standards Enterprise Enterprise Plus

Within a given project, you can select from the following accessibility standards:

PDF/UA: PDF/UA (Universal Accessibility) applies specifically to the PDF format. It aligns with WCAG principles (see below) but provides additional concrete rules for PDFs.

PDF/WCAG 2.0: WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) was introduced in 2008 as a foundation for digital and online accessibility. WCAG guidelines offer three levels: A (Basic Accessibility), AA (Strong Accessibility), and AAA (Excellent Accessibility). WCAG 2.0 AA is the baseline accessibility standard for US federal agencies and contractors.

PDF/WCAG 2.1: WCAG 2.1 was released in 2018 and expanded the requirements of WCAG 2.0 to include responsive design and enhanced readability support for PDFs. WCAG 2.1 AA is the European standard for digital accessibility per EN 301 549 and can result in fines for communications that fail to meet accessibility standards.

PDF/WCAG 2.2: WCAG 2.2 was released in 2023 and expanded on the requirements of WCAG 2.1 to include error prevention and keyboard focus for form fields and links. WCAG 2.2 AA is now the benchmark for EU compliance.

Accessibility Reports Enterprise Enterprise Plus

Running a report on a template in your project will check whether that template meets your chosen accessibility standard. Your report will contain a list of each rule from your chosen accessibility standard that your document has failed to meet. Each rule will list the locations where this rule was failed.

Accessibility Status Enterprise Enterprise Plus

Documents within your project will display their accessibility status, which can include:

Version R25.07.1 (November 2025)

There are no new features or functionality changes associated with this release.

Version R25.06.1 (October 2025)

There are no new features or functionality changes associated with this release.

Version R25.05.1 (August 2025)

Homepage Rebranding Essentials Enterprise Enterprise Plus

We've updated the header of the CCM homepage to read "NorthStar CCM." Previously, it read "EngageCX."

Sysinternals Page Rebranding Essentials Enterprise Enterprise Plus

The "EngageCX Remote Print Server" settings and interface within the NorthStar CCM Sysinternals page have been updated to read "CCM Print Agent."

Updated Help ("?") Menu Essentials Enterprise Enterprise Plus

The Help (? icon) menu on the NorthStar CCM header has an updated link to NorthStar CCM documentation. We've also removed the feedback features under this menu. You can provide feedback here (Salesforce login required).

Updated Developer Section Essentials Enterprise Enterprise Plus

We've updated the headings and inline references on the Developer/Software page to replace instances of "EngageCX" with "NorthStar CCM."

Updated Login Page Essentials Enterprise Enterprise Plus

We've updated the NorthStar CCM login page to replace a reference to EngageCX with NorthStar CCM, and we've added a link to the NorthStar Vendor and Employee Automation product page.

Version R25.04.1 (July 2025)

Visual Update for AI Assist Enterprise Enterprise Plus

You may notice that the colors of several of the buttons in the AI Assist feature are now orange. This has no impact on functionality; we made this change to match the AI Assist interface with the visual style of the NorthStar CCM application.

Version R25.03.1 (May 2025)

There were no new features introduced in version R2025.03.1.

Version R25.02.1 (April 2025)

Update Default Forms with AI Assist Enterprise Enterprise Plus

You can now replace the default form in a project with a form you developed with AI assistance. The data model will be automatically updated to reflect the fields of the new default form, and the “Get Data” step in the workflow will be automatically configured for the data source associated with the new form. Previously, you would need to manually update the data model and workflow to integrate with the new form. This change makes the process more efficient, reduces the chance of error, and gives you more freedom, flexibility, and confidence when generating new forms for your business.

AI Assist Available in Workspace Folders Enterprise Enterprise Plus

Our AI Assist tool could allow a user in a given project to easily generate a new form based on a simple prompt, but previously this feature wasn't available within a workspace. We've now added the same AI Assist functionality to workspaces, so users can easily generate document templates or forms from projects or workspace folders. This streamlines the process of creating communications for all users, whether they work in projects or workspaces, and provides easier access to AI assistance.

AI Assisted Repeating Row File Conversion Enterprise Enterprise Plus

If you upload a Word document with tables containing rows that repeat based on available data (e.g. line items on an invoice, a list of transactions), those rows will be automatically converted into the NorthStar CCM format. This means those rows will expand dynamically at runtime, based on the data entries, to provide accurately formatted and rendered forms. By supporting the conversion of Word documents with repeating row elements, we make migrating legacy templates into NorthStar CCM easier.

AI Assisted Multi-Page Layout File Conversion Enterprise Enterprise Plus

If you upload a multi-page Word document with varying page layouts (e.g., portrait/landscape orientations, margins, headers, footers, and column structures), those elements will be accurately preserved and converted into the NorthStar CCM template. This feature allows content creators to easily migrate a library of multi-page documents to NorthStar CCM with their layouts, style, and formatting intact, making the migration process much easier and preserving the consistency document appearance for their end users.

Embedded BOX Links Alternative to Email Attachments Enterprise Enterprise Plus

In your BOX account is integrated with NorthStar CCM, you can now include a link to a BOX file in an email generated by NorthStar CCM, instead of needing to attach the file directly to the email. The link can be formatted as a clickable hyperlink, and retains BOX's security features, including access permissions, password protection, and link expiration. Links improve the deliverability of emails by reducing their size and enhance document security by giving you greater control over file access.

Automatic Transfer of Form-Uploaded Files to BOX Enterprise Enterprise Plus

If you've created a form that allows a user to upload a file, you can now configure your NorthStar CCM workflow to automatically save and transfer that file to a designated BOX folder. You can specify in the workflow settings where the file should be saved and how it should be named. File names can be configured to include metadata, such as form ID or submission date. All files saved in a BOX folder will retain their metadata and associated form data.

OAuth 2.0 Authentication for SMTP connections Enterprise Enterprise Plus

We've added an OAuth 2.0 (OAuth2) option in the NorthStar CCM SMTP configuration settings. You can now select “OAuth 2” as an option. OAuth 2.0 authentication enhances email security, reduces reliance on less secure password-based authentication methods, and supports Microsoft SMTP service requirements.

Assign BOX Metadata Templates to "Save to BOX" Workflows Enterprise Enterprise Plus

To support our new BOX file upload features, we've added the ability to set the metadata template for files being uploaded to BOX. When you open the “Save to BOX” workflow step, you'll find an optional field for specifying a metadata template. From there, you can select from a list of available BOX metadata templates, or you can manually enter a metadata template name if the list of templates cannot be retrieved. Applying a metadata template enhances file organization, searchability, and consistency, and reduces the need for manual metadata entries.

Version R25.01.1 (February 2025)

NorthStar CCM Rebranding Enterprise Enterprise Plus

With the R25.01.01 release, EngageCX has been formally renamed "NorthStar CCM," and is offered as an extension of the MHC NorthStar suite of document automation solutions, including support for customer, vendor, and employee document needs.

Box Sign Electronic Signature Integration Enterprise Enterprise Plus

This release built on the Box integration of R24.01 by delivering the ability to seamlessly integrate Box Sign into NorthStar CCM workflows. This includes the ability to add Box Sign as an electronic signature provider in the Sysinternals section of NorthStar CCM, and the inclusion of a "Electronic Signature" step in CCM workflows that can use Box Sign as the provider.

Static PDF to Dynamic Webform Conversion Enterprise Enterprise Plus

With this release, users can now convert static PDFs into dynamic, editable webform templates. As long as the PDF has basic features, our prompt-driven AI Assist feature can convert it into a template that retains the features of the original PDF, including page margins, headers, footers, column layouts, images, and fixed tables. From there you can make further refinements using the template editor.

Version 14.0 (August 2024)

Box Integration Enterprise Enterprise Plus Essentials

Users with a Box account can create a direct connection between their Box account and their CCM workflows. This includes:

.NET Core 8.0 Upgrade Enterprise Enterprise Plus Essentials

We have upgraded EngageCX from .NET Framework to .NET 8.0, resulting in improved system performance, enhanced API security, and better web functionality. Additionally, we have updated the Swagger 2.0 API to OpenAPI 3.0, which now includes SDKs for both .NET Framework 4.8 and .NET 8.0.

Security and Stability Improvements Enterprise Enterprise Plus Essentials

We have made several enhancements to ensure the application's security and performance. These include implementing the gRPC protocol for more efficient service communication with TLS encryption, and enabling autoscaling with “graceful shutdown“ features to maintain data integrity and system performance.

Additionally, we have introduced stability improvements such as session timeouts, upgrading tools and libraries to their latest versions, enhancing “heartbeat“ logging to monitor the status of online systems, and establishing an internal whitelisting system to restrict file access based on system administrator settings.

AI Assist Features Enterprise Enterprise Plus Essentials Cloud only

Several artificial intelligence features are now available, including content generation, sentiment analysis and translation services.

AI Assist Content Generation Enterprise Enterprise Plus Essentials Cloud only

Based on simple prompts, AI Assist can generate several forms of content, including:

AI Assist Sentiment Analysis Enterprise Enterprise Plus Essentials Cloud only

While editing documents or emails within EngageCX, you can use AI Assist to perform a “sentiment analysis” to determine the emotional and professional tone of the text; this will include editing suggestions to help achieve the desired sentiment and keep the tone uniform.

AI Assist Translation Services Enterprise Enterprise Plus Essentials Cloud only

Once you’ve created a template, you can use AI Assist to provide translations of that template into another language.

PDF 2.0 Version Update Enterprise Enterprise Plus Essentials

Portable Document Format (PDF) files generated by EngageCX can be generated in the latest PDF 2.0 version, which includes several enhancements to security and accessibility, and ensures that PDF files can be opened, viewed, and edited on any device.

Embed data sources in PDFs (PDF/A-3) Enterprise Enterprise Plus Essentials

We’ve added the option to embed data sources or files within PDFs as they are rendered. This is supported by the PDF/A-3 conformance standard for electronic document archiving, and allows you to render richer, more detailed documents.

PDF Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) Update Enterprise Enterprise Plus Essentials

PDF files can be protected now by using AES 256-bit encryption. This protects your data and files from unauthorized access and tampering, while still giving authorized users convenient access.

Security and SOC 2 Updates Enterprise Enterprise Plus Essentials

Several internal updates to ensure that account information, endpoints, and password recovery is secure.

Image Downsizing/Downsampling Enterprise Enterprise Plus Essentials

Updates to support downsizing large images used in templates, preserving image quality while increasing performance.

Word File Checkboxes Enterprise Enterprise Plus Essentials

Word files rendered by Ruby offer single-click checkboxes for easier use.

Licensing Improvements Enterprise Enterprise Plus Essentials

A minor improvement to the reset date of license counters, making it more accurate and predictable based off the license expiration date.

Issues Fixed

Version R25.09

Function: Arabic Text

Summary: We found that combining Arabic and Latin text in a template could cause spaces to be omitted and parentheses to be rendered incorrectly in the output, especially when using multi-font templates.

Solution: We corrected the rendering logic causing the spacing and parentheses issues in mixed Arabic/Latin text.

Function: PDF Generation

Summary: Text entered into form textboxes in PDFs was displayed incorrectly when the PDFs were opened and edited in Chrome or Edge, due to issues when fonts were subset in the newer XF version.

Solution: We resolved this issue by adding an XSL‑FO extension element to ensure fonts were fully embedded in the PDF, aligning behavior with the old XF version.

Function: Page Layouts

Summary: The page footer might disappear or an extra blank page might be created when creating a document with multiple page layouts and a table with height="100%" and table-omit-footer-at-break="true."

Solution: We corrected the issue to ensure intended footer and page generation behavior.

Function: Publishing Engine Previews

Summary: Running an interactive communication preview in the publishing engine could cause the preview to experience slow loading when an image converted into a base64 text string was used.

Solution: We corrected this by updating the cache key logic to handle base64 images without causing the preview to load slowly.

Version R25.08

Function: DAL Job Files

Summary: Running a payload with the Page Count option caused a server error stating that only PS and PDF output formats are supported in DAL job files.

Solution: We've fixed this by ensuring that the Page Count feature uses a supported output format (PS or PDF) when generating DAL job files.

Function: PDF Rendering

Summary: Any content appearing after the area where an fo:marker was defined inside a table was not displayed in the generated PDF output.

Solution: We've adjusted the rendering logic to correctly process and include content following fo:marker elements in tables during PDF generation.

Function: Publisher Design View

Summary: Workflows were stuck in 'Starting' mode because a workflow containing a "run workflow" step called itself, creating an infinite loop and exhausting all tenant thread.

Solution: To fix this, we've prevented workflows from calling themselves by adding detection for circular references in the editor and workflow service to block such configurations.

Version R25.07

Function: Tooltips NorthStar CCM

Summary: The default rendering logic for editable text boxes displayed the unique internal reference name as a hovering tooltip.

Solution: Since this could cause confusion or translation barriers, we've removed this default behavior. We've also corrected an issue where hover text with non-latin characters could prevent the text box from displaying properly.

Function: Rendering NorthStar CCM

Summary: The latest version of the libxml++ library introduced a 20MB size limit for JSON attributes, which was causing large datasources saved as JSON attributes to be blocked.

Solution: To fix this, we've moved these datasources to text nodes in the source element.

Function: Publisher Stability NorthStar CCM

Summary: We had observed that some templates would not open successfully in the most recent version of Publisher, resulting in an empty screen or a system crash.

Solution: We've updated NorthStar CCM to prevent these issues from occurring.

Function: Studio Stability NorthStar CCM

Summary: An issue that was causing some templates to display a black screen or freeze the system.

Solution: We corrected the issue.

Function: Alt Text NorthStar CCM

Summary: We encountered a scenario in which embedded templates did not include alt text for certain images on the first render.

Solution: We've corrected this so that alt text is rendered correctly the first time.

Function: Inserting Images NorthStar CCM

Summary: We discovered that attempting to insert an image from an unresponsive URL can cause Studio to crash.

Solution: We've corrected this so that the system will not crash even if the image cannot be fetched from the URL.

Function: PDF Rendering NorthStar CCM

Summary: We observed that when generating a PDF from an existing PDF, color gradients weren't always properly transmitted.

Solution: We've fixed this so color gradients are preserved when generated PDF -> PDF.

Version R25.06

Function: Barcode Generation NorthStar CCM

Summary: The DataMatrix codes generated by NorthStar CCM were causing issues on a testing site because they did not include the ASCII Group Separator () character in the OID, last name, and first name fields.

Solution: We resolved this by updating the barcode generation to correctly embed the character in those fields.

Function: PDF Renedering NorthStar CCM

Summary: PDF rendering was significantly slowed by forms missing the required FormType field.

Solution: The renderer now gracefully handles forms without a specified FormType, improving performance when processing invalid forms.

Version R25.05

Function: Forms Performance NorthStar CCM

Summary: PDF rendering was significantly slowed by forms missing the required FormType field.

Solution: The renderer now gracefully handles forms without a specified FormType, improving performance when processing invalid forms.

Function: Dialogue Groups NorthStar CCM

Summary: The “Hide in lookup dialog” option was missing from the UI for dropdowns and checkboxes in forms.

Solution: This attribute can now be set directly in the interface, ensuring consistent behavior without requiring manual edits to the form definition.

Function: Translations NorthStar CCM

Summary: Translations for dropdown items, radio button options, and items within repeating sections were not being saved in forms.

Solution: These elements now correctly retain their translated values, ensuring proper localization support across form components.

Version R25.04

Function: Password Reset NorthStar CCM

Summary: When a password was reset, the drive's path to the shared folder would be lost, which would require reconfiguring the path for each account.

Solution: We corrected this to ensure that the path to the shared folder is preserved when a customer resets their password.

Function: Template Previews NorthStar CCM

Summary: We noticed that an error would occur when attempting to preview certain templates.

Solution: We've fixed the issue so that template previews function consistently.

Version R25.03

Function: Textbox padding consistency NorthStar CCM

Summary: We observed a slight difference in the spacing of form text boxes between older and newer versions of NorthStar CCM.

Solution: We've corrected this so that the newest version of NorthStar CCM is consistent with the spacing and padding of older versions.

Function: Rendering with Arial Narrow font NorthStar CCM

Summary: In some cases, files with Arial Narrow font rendered correctly visually, but did not show an accurate record of the fonts applied in the Fonts tab.

Solution: We've corrected this to ensure that the Fonts tab shows the applied fonts accurately.

Function: Job schedules NorthStar CCM

Summary: We discovered that in some cases, NorthStar CCM was inconsistently adjusting for daylight savings time, which might result in a scheduled job printing an hour earlier or later than expected.

Solution: We've corrected this issue so that jobs are printed at the correct current time.

Function: Currency rounding NorthStar CCM

Summary: We observed that in some letter templates, when certain decimal values were used, the system would not properly round the result to two decimal places.

Solution: We've corrected this so that decimal values are rounded as expected.

Version R25.02

ITERATION 125

Function: Environment Switching NorthStar CCM

Summary: After changing their password in NorthStar CCM, some users found it difficult to switch environments because the environment name was not listed in the right-click menu.

Solution: We've fixed this so the environment name is included with the list.

Function: Dependencies Reset NorthStar CCM

Summary: Previously, after changing your password in NorthStar CCM, you would be asked upon login if you want to check in additional dependencies.

Solution: We've adjusted this so NorthStar CCM will remember the last selected option instead of asking the question.

Function: Preview Rendering NorthStar CCM

Summary: In some cases, images that displayed in the Portrait orientation in the form preview (or Windows preview) were being displayed in landscape orientation in the runtime PDF.

Solution: We've corrected this to ensure that the display in the form preview is accurate.

Function: Project Deletion NorthStar CCM

Summary: We noticed that when a project's .epj file was deleted and compact storage was run, the project would be removed, but schedules associated with the project were not removed.

Solution: We've fixed this to avoid the presence of “ghost” schedules, which clutter storage and are the spookiest kind of schedule.

Version R25.01

ITERATION 125

Function: Triggers NorthStar CCM

Summary: Triggers stopped working due to locking issue.

Solution: This issue has been fixed.

Version 14.0

ITERATION 98

Function: Content Fragments NorthStar CCM

Summary: When updating a content fragment in a Publisher template, changes are not reflected unless the fragment is completely removed and re-added

Solution: This issue has been fixed.

ITERATION 94

Function: French Translation NorthStar CCM

Summary: The "Continued" label was not being translated to French.

Solution: This issue has been fixed.