Account
Contacts / Connections
Communities / Discussions
Library / Resources
Account | Top
Q: What is my username/password?
A: Your login credentials are the same username and password that you use to log in to the main SQA website. If you have forgotten your SQA login, please use the reminder links on the
SQA Sign-in Page. (Do NOT create a new account; a new account will not contain your community membership.) Still need help? Contact SQA Headquarters at
sqa@sqa.org.
Q: How do I get to my SQA Connect profile?
A: At the top, right corner of SQA Connect, click/tap on your image/avatar and select "Profile." Alternatively, go to
Member Home and click/tap on your profile card at the top of the page.
Q: How do I update my contact information, photo, etc.?
A: On your SQA Connect profile page, please select the pencil icon next to "Contact Details" in the left column. This will take you to the SQA website to update your account information so it stays synchronized between the website and SQA Connect.
Q: How do I control what profile information is visible to others?
A: Click/tap the "Account Preferences" menu, then select "Privacy Settings" from the "My Account" tab menu. Update your settings to control what information is visible to whom. After you’ve made changes, click/tap the “Save Changes” button at the bottom of the page.
Contacts / Connections | Top
Q: How do I find other community members?
A: You may find community members by using the SQA Connect Directory, or by navigating to the roster of a particular community (see steps below). Please note that some communities include individuals who are not members of SQA (e.g. RQAP and Regional Chapter communities).
SQA Connect Directory: Navigate to "Directory” > "SQA Connect Directory" and use the Basic or Advanced search to find a member of any community. The Basic search is sufficient for most searches.
Basic Search Tab — search by:
- First and/or last name
- Organization name
- Email address
Advanced Search Tab — narrow your search results by:
- City
- State
- Country
- Community
- Education
Community Member Listing: Navigate to one of your communities through the "Communities" menu. On the page for the individual community, select the "Members" tab to view a roster (below the search form). You may also search within the community.
Q: How do I find fellow SQA Members?
A: If you are an SQA member, select "SQA Member Directory" from the "Directory" menu, and use the search form provided. You may be required to log in separately because the member search is on the main SQA website. Only SQA members are able to access this directory.
Q: How do I add contacts to my contact list?
A: When you view search results in the Community Directory, you should see an “Add as Contact” button to the right of each person. Click/tap this button to send a contact request. If you are viewing an individual’s profile, you can use the contact request link to the right of his or her profile picture. From your SQA Connect profile, you may go to "My Connections" > "Contacts" and use the "Request Contact" buttons next to suggested contacts. You can also start a directory search from your contacts page.
Q: Why should I add contacts to my contact list?
A: Creating this virtual address book makes it easy to send your contacts messages through the community site to stay in touch, ask questions or even build a referral network. Additionally, when you view another member’s profile, you’ll be able to see any contacts you have in common. You can also choose to let your contacts view certain demographics in your profile that others can't.
Communities / Discussions | Top
Q: What are communities?
A: The communities in SQA Connect replace the SQA listservs with enhanced ability to participate in discussions and share resources (documents, images, links, etc.) with other members. There is a community for each
Specialty Section,
Committee and
Regional Chapter of SQA. There are also communities for groups such as
RQAPs and participants in the
SQA Mentoring Program.
Q: What communities do I already belong to?
A: Go to “Communities” in the main navigation bar and select “My Communities” to access the communities to which you belong. Link to an individual community and select the Members tab to see a list of members for that community (below the search form). You may also search within the list which is helpful when your community has a lot of members.
Q: How do I join/subscribe to a community?
A: SQA members are encouraged to
join a Specialty Section or Volunteer Committee to participate in its community. The Board of Directors would like for every SQA member to engage with at least one Specialty Section! SQA members are also encouraged to apply for the
SQA Mentoring Program to participate in that community. To participate in chapter communities, join a
Regional Chapter. RQAPs are enrolled in their communities when they pass an
RQAP exam and they stay enrolled as long as they maintain their credential by re-registering every three years.
Q: How can I control the frequency and format of emails I receive?
A: Go to your SQA Connect profile and select the "My Account" tab. Choose "Community Notifications" from the drop-down menu and set one of the following options for each of your communities:
- Real time: sends an email every time a new message is posted. This is the default setting.
- Daily digest: sends one email to you each day, consolidating all of the posts from the previous day.
- No Email: allows you to be part of the group without having emails sent to you. You can still post and read others’ messages by logging into the community site.
Q: How do I use a different email address to subscribe to one of my communities?
A: By default, you are subscribed to communities with the “office” email address in your main SQA account. To override that for one of your communities, use the "Account Preferences" menu to quickly access your account. Click/tap “add override address.” Carefully type in your alternate email address, select the community from your list of communities, and click/tap "Save." If you want to use this address for the majority of your communities, please update your contact information in your main SQA account instead through the
My Account webpage.
Please keep track of which address you are using for each of your communities. If you set a lot of different overrides and need assistance from SQA Headquarters, this may complicate the trouble-shooting process.
Q: How do I leave a community or unsubscribe from a discussion?
A: Community enrollment automatically ends when your membership expires, or your mentoring program concludes (if you are a mentoring program participant). If you are an RQAP and stop maintaining your registration, your enrollment in the RQAP communities will end when your registration expires. Please contact SQA Headquarters at
sqa@sqa.org if you want to stop being a member of a Committee or Specialty Section, or if you want to stop participating in the SQA Mentoring program. Please note that this will end your participation in ALL of the group's activities, not just their online community.
Stop Receiving Email: To simply turn off email from one or more of your communities, please see
How can I control the frequency and format of emails I receive? Out of consideration for everyone who is a member of the community, please DO NOT send an "unsubscribe" message to the community.
Q: How do I reply to a discussion post?
A: You may reply via email or online as follows.
From Email: Use the "Reply to Group" link near the top of the message to reply to everyone in the community and have your reply posted online. Use the "Reply to Sender via Email" link to reply only to the sender. We recommend replying to the sender for simple comments such as “Thanks for that” that add little value to the overall discussion; and replying to the entire community when you are sharing knowledge, experience or resources that others could benefit from.
Online: Please navigate to the discussion post and click/tap “Reply to Discussion” to send your message to the entire community. To send a message only to the author of the post, please select “Reply to Sender” (located in the "Reply to Discussion" drop-down).
Q: How do I start a new discussion thread?
A: Discussion threads can be started through email messages or online as follows.
Link from Email: Use the “Post Message” link located at the top of an email message you received from the community.
Online: Go to “Participate" > “Post a message” and select the community from the "To" drop-down box. If you are enrolled in more than one community, you have the option to cross-post to one of your other communities by selecting it from the second drop-down box.
Q: I’m having trouble viewing the HTML email messages. How do I fix this?
A: If images are not appearing, it is likely that your email client is set to suppress images. This should be something you can change in your security or viewing options. If you would rather receive text-based email, go to your profile page and select the "My Account" tab. Choose "Community Notifications" from the drop-down menu. Select the “Plain Text” format option for each of the discussions you are subscribed to.
Q: Can I search for posts across my communities?
A: Yes, please enter a keyword in the search bar located in the menu bar. To refine your search results, please select "Show Advanced Search." There are also a number of filters on the search results page to help you narrow your results.
Q: How do I see a listing of all of the posts to a specific Community?
A: Go to "Communities" > "My Communities" and select the particular community. On the community's landing page, select the “Discussions” tab. If you see a post you’re interested in, click/tap the subject line which will take you to the entire thread. “Show Original Message” at the bottom of all of the posts in a thread will display the original message that started that discussion.
Libraries | Top
Q: How do I find resources that may have been uploaded by other members of my communities?
A: If you have a good idea of where the resource is, go to "Communities" > "My Communities" and select the particular community. On the community's landing page, select the “Library” tab and navigate through the folders to find the resource. If you do not know where the resource might be, enter search terms in the main search box the same way you might enter search terms into Google or another search engine.
Q: Can I search for specific file types?
A: Yes. Enter your desired keyword in the main search box. From the search results page, click/tap "Show Advanced Search" and select “Search for Specific File Types.” This gives you the option to specify file type: Document, Image, Spreadsheet, etc.
Q: How do the libraries get populated?
A: The libraries are populated via email or online as follows.
Through Email: When you include an attachment in a discussion post via email, the system automatically places the file in the affiliated library and sends a link to community members for accessing the file. All attachments are collected in the main library folder. Please note that the file is not distributed as an attachment.
Online: You may also upload documents directly to a library by using the “Share a File” link found under “Participate” in the main navigation or "Create New Library Entry" button on your community's library page. This option allows you to choose/create a folder where the document is stored. See 'How do I upload a flie?' below.
Q: How do I upload a file?
A: Select the “Share a File” link found under “Participate” in the main navigation or "Create New Library Entry" on any community landing page. On the upload page, complete the following steps:
- Choose a title for your document, and include an optional description if it would help users to identify the file contents.
- Select the library to which you’d like to upload the file, and select a folder if relevant.
- Choose an Entry Type. (Most will be Standard File Uploads, but be mindful of any copyright licensed material.)
- Optional: specify an owner (e.g. a copyright owner)
- Click/tap “Next.”
- Click/tap "Choose and Upload" to find and upload your file.
- Either select "Next" if you want to add tags or further description, or select “Finish” to post your library entry.
Q: What kind of files can I upload?
A: The system supports dozens of file types including hyperlinks, standard files (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), webinars, images and YouTube videos.
Q: What are the “tags” for?
A: Tags are great way to organize and categorize content on your site. Tags can be applied to blogs, library entries, events, and glossary terms. Tagged items are prioritized in the search results.