What’s Changing and What Do I Have to Do?
Note: If your institution has multiple Course Evaluations & Surveys subaccounts and you need to send from a campus email domain for all or multiple of them, you will need to add that email domain in each subaccount. However, you only need to complete the DNS configuration steps with your DNS administrator once.
Important: We will not be providing IP addresses for safelisting in the future, as they are subject to change quite frequently. Please keep your current IP address safelist settings in place until you receive notice that this upgrade is complete.
This upgrade involves three key changes related to email receipt and deliverability:
- Default "From" Address Update: Emails will be sent with a new default "from" address.
- New Server Infrastructure: Emails will originate from new servers.
- Domain Authorization Workflow: There is a new process to authorize Watermark to send "from" a campus email domain.
As a result, this upgrade may impact your users’ ability to receive emails sent from Course Evaluations & Surveys (formerly EvaluationKIT). It may require your IT team to update safelisting settings they’ve previously configured (e.g., email or IP address safelisting) to ensure emails reach your users if:
- Your institution configures automated email communications for any course evaluations or general survey projects.
- Your institution uses the direct-to-user email tools to send one-off messages to individual users outside of survey projects.
- You override the default "from" address (e.g., spoof a campus email address) to send any emails from Course Evaluations & Surveys.
Otherwise, please make note of the following changes for your own administrative awareness.
Emails Will Be Sent With a New Default "From" Address
When we upgrade to the new email service provider, the default address used to send outgoing email communications from Course Evaluations & Surveys (formerly EvaluationKIT) will change to notifications@evaluationkit.ca, replacing the legacy evaluationkit.com address.
Please review your email safelist settings with your campus IT team. Depending on your email vendor, you may need to configure safelisting and SPF to ensure the highest level of email deliverability:
- Update Domain Safelisting: If you’ve safelisted the evaluationkit.com domain, please add the evaluationkit.ca domain to your safelist settings to ensure users can receive emails from both domains.
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Update SPF Records: If your organization leverages Sender Policy Framework (SPF), ensure that the following entry is included in your SPF record:
spf.watermarkinsights.com - Add Domain Safelisting for IP Filters: If you’ve safelisted a specific list of IP addresses, we highly recommend that you add safelisting for the notifications@evaluationkit.ca domain.
Emails Will Come From New Servers
After the upgrade, we will send all Course Evaluations & Surveys email communications from a new set of servers. Previously, we recommended safelisting specific IP addresses. Thanks to new AWS infrastructure features, we can now improve email deliverability without requiring IP address safelisting.
If you previously added Watermark or EvaluationKIT IP addresses to your email safelist, please complete the following:
- Add Domain Safelisting: Add safelisting for the evaluationkit.ca domain.
- Maintain Current IP Safelists: Keep your current IP address safelist settings active until you receive formal notice that this upgrade is complete.
Authorizing Watermark to Send "From" a Campus Email Domain
After this upgrade, all emails will default to send from notifications@evaluationkit.ca. If you prefer sending email communications "from" a campus email address instead of the system default, use the new self-service tools to configure and authorize Watermark to send from your preferred campus email domain(s).
Follow this collaborative process between the CES Administrator and your campus IT team:
- Determine the Campus Address: Identify the university "from" address you want to use for course evaluation and survey email communications.
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Configure the Domain in CES: Log in as a Course Evaluations & Surveys Administrator and configure the email domain using the "Email Domains" section located under "Account Outgoing Email Settings".
By verifying a domain, you will be authorized to send email from any subdomain or email address of that domain without verifying each individually (e.g., authorizing
institution.eduauthorizesmail.institution.edu). -
Send DNS Values to Your IT Team: Once configured, the "Email Domains" section will provide a table of DNS records. Copy and send these values (including Type, Name, and Value) to your DNS administrator.
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Add Records to Your DNS Zone: Request that your DNS Administrator add these generated CNAME values to the DNS zone supporting your email domain.
How to do this depends on your specific DNS provider. For additional guidance, refer to Step 3 of "To verify a domain identity configured with Easy DKIM (console)" in the AWS SES Documentation.
- Validate the Domain: After receiving confirmation from your DNS administrator, return to the "Email Domains" area in Course Evaluations & Surveys and select "Validate".
- Begin Sending Emails: Once domain validation succeeds, the system is officially authorized to send "from" any address under that domain. You can begin using your preferred campus "from" address in automated and direct-to-user emails.
Frequently Asked Questions
What About DKIM?
Our email service uses DKIM for all outgoing messages[cite: 1]. Outgoing email communications will be sent using DKIM with the default address notifications@evaluationkit.ca[cite: 1]. The new domain validation process uses Easy DKIM, meaning that once a domain is validated, any emails sent from that domain will automatically utilize DKIM authentication[cite: 1].
Will This Affect the "Email From Address" Configured Under Account Outgoing Email Settings?
No[cite: 1]. If you have configured a "from" email address under "Account Outgoing Email Settings", this setting will remain intact and unaffected[cite: 1].
Will There Be Downtime During the Transition?
No[cite: 1]. This transition involves no system downtime for administrators or end users[cite: 1]. Scheduled email communications will not be disrupted provided the applicable setup steps are completed[cite: 1].