Abstract vs. OnBoard Board Management Software

• Large teams with dedicated design operations support
• UX managers that want a facilitated workflow for their teams
• Disciplined teams of individual contributors that want to adopt a process in their UI workflow
• Cross-discipline teams that want a central collaboration space for reviewing and critiquing UI artifacts
• If your files are named "FOR-REALS_FINAL_FINAL_FINAL_Super-Important-Project (copy).sketch"
• If you're managing multiple pattern libraries

Incentivized

OnBoard is an adaptable platform that could be used for most meetings. It works perfectly to build an agenda and packet for board and committee meetings. It allows for easy RSVP to ensure a quorum at meetings. All users are able to easily view the packet and can even make notations of points they want to discuss during the meeting. OnBoard doesn't work well for detailed documents such as spreadsheets. Our company has a strategic plan and we cannot use OnBoard for that committee meeting. The size of the spreadsheet simply doesn't function well within OnBoard and isn't easily navigable. The same is true of certain financial spreadsheets.

• Versioning for desginers
• Collaboration between team members

Incentivized

• Secure board materials - the administrator can control what board members see what materials.
• Contact information - email and mailing addresses are readily available.
• Board terms - term lengths for every board member is tracked through the system.
• Meeting feedback - simple surveys are sent immediately after a meeting to get feedback from meeting attendees for future planning.

Incentivized

• Asset exports are not as great as Zeplin and others.
• Filtering within files.

Incentivized

• Currently, you cannot block an entire group from a topic; you need to block attendees individually.
• it would be nice to indent a section by using tabbing.
• the added button for "save changes" in each section tends to slow down progress; edits used to be saved automatically and tended to be faster.

I couldn't imagine us doing our business without OnBoard [Board Management]. It has become the way we communicate with our Board and run our meetings. Frankly, I have no desire to go back even when we are meeting in person to paper binders for each board member. It truly has been a blessing coming out of COVID for us.

Abstract has a difficult learning curve. If a feature-branch workflow is new to you, then it will take some getting used to. They make a lot of updates to the interface and these feature releases get ahead of their documentation. They rely heavily on an excellent customer support team and are present on various Slack channels to help design professionals with issues.

Incentivized

OnBoard is extremely user-friendly. I believe many individuals could begin using it without instruction just by clicking and looking around. It is very intuitive and the setup makes sense. I have older members on my board and they can use OnBoard with no issue and no training beyond an initial overview. During the pandemic, I've had some new board members easily use it without instruction since we weren't able to meet in person for an overview.

Abstract by nature is complex and has to respond to whatever changes in Sketch. So there are frequent issues. Support can be slow to respond and are not always helpful, but they are quick to find and patch the bugs. Overall, it's not the best support, but it hasn't been detrimental.

Incentivized

I haven't needed to contact OnBoard customer support many times because it's user-friendly and functions as it's supposed to/sold. On the occasions I've contacted customer support, they have promptly answered the phone or my email. In one instance, a board member couldn't access OnBoard prior to a board meeting and customer support was able to resolve the issue in the 10 minutes prior to the meeting. In another instance, a board member wasn't able to get the system to recognize all answers to a completed survey which prevented a compilation of results. Customer support viewed the member's screen and ran an error log to figure out the issue.

Implementation was easy and I was able to do it alone without OnBoard customer support, although customer support assistance was offered and available. The platform is very user-friendly and doesn't require assistance to implement in my opinion. The biggest hurdle is getting invitees to access the invitation email and set up their login.

I purchased and administer Abstract. It was requested by our design department who evaluated it.

Incentivized

OnBoard is more user-friendly. It is very easy to navigate from an administrator's standpoint as well as for the end-user. I received compliments on a regular basis from our board members and how grateful they are that it is so easy to use. They also love having the Resources where all of our important documents are located. Other tools that I have used were very clunky and hard to navigate and the cost was greater higher.

Incentivized

• Single source of truth for the team.
• Could quickly get expensive with corporate accounts.

Incentivized

• It's helped maintain board and committee involvement in the nonprofit since the start of COVID
• It has allowed our meetings to go virtual with little effect on workflow
• It allows us to better track needed association materials than we have in the past

Incentivized