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Concursive is a media/technology company with a suite of web-based CRM and collaboration software, including Connect, a social networking application. It offers extensive customization, API integration, and mobile compatibility.
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ConcourseConnect Training • Concursive • July 2015
Concursive Whirlwind Tour • Founded in 2000, HQ in Norfolk, VA • Major investor – Intel Ventures (2007) • A media/technology company with rich/mature product set and experience across multiple industries • Suite, a web-based CRM • Connect, a web-based collaboration, social networking application • Mobile, works with the Suite & Connect as back-ends, providing a feature-rich, mobile front-end • See www.concursive.com for more info
Connect from a User’s Perspective • Connect: a web/mobile based, enterprise collaboration, social networking, project management application • Profile based, with many profile types • Extensive roles & permissions • Significant content management capabilities • Easy to customize • Extensive API’s, including mobile • Has sophisticated web and mobile front ends • Developed for performance, scalability and security foremost
Agenda • Personal Profiles • Tabs (Profiles) in general • Content Management • User Admin • System Admin
Personal Profile • This is your own home page. Similar to FB • Get there by clicking on your picture • Upload/set your picture(s) • Reset password • Set alerts • Set privacy • Share info about yourself (hometown, things that interest you, etc) • Links/icons to FB, LinkedIn. Twitter, etc • Activity stream • Messaging
Personal Profiles • Many Tabs can be configured by Admin - a reasonable default is set up during system config. • Major Tabs are Profile (landing page), Photos, Friends, Messages • Alerts configure how often you get email alerts from friends profiles you follow • Accounts & Settings configure your name, location (locale, currency, TZ), reset password, privacy settings • Configuration sets integrations to FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, others • In the center is the Activity Stream. Activity in all Profiles you follow (Member) • Below the fold on right are Profiles of which you are a member
Main Tabs • System Profiles usually shown in the large tabs at the top of every page • Here we see Blog, Groups, Projects, Events, Ideas, and People • The location and “look” of these tabs may vary from site to site • There are many possible - too many to have them all turned on • Which ones are turned on for a site is configurable in Admin • They can all be renamed in Admin to suit your usage • New Profile types can easily be built, including content pages without special features
Connect from an Admin Perspective • Site Content Management w/o Admin • Invite user to main profile • <site url>/main-profile • Make user a champion of main-profile • User can now edit content on all landing pages but cannot access Admin pages • Admin functions • Editing content • User management • Configuration • Admin menu
Admin • If you have been granted Admin privileges, your personal menu, accessible from all pages has an additional “Admin” choice • Clicking will take you to the Admin page • Manage Community refers to the Management Console, if configured
The Admin Tab • This is where the hard-core user and system configuration is accomplished • Any user can be made Admin (in user section of Admin) • Admin has two main areas • Community Stats: drill down in to system usage (see later slide) • System Administration: hard core system stats and configuration (see later slide) • Be VERY CAREFUL who you give Admin to. Can destroy system
Admin Tab Community Stats • Two main areas in the Admin tab: • Community Stats • System Administration • Community Stats reports various usage information and allows an Admin to drill down (see next slide) • Can visit Users and Profiles
Admin Tab Active Users • Drilling down into Active Users provides a list (I truncated this one) • An Admin can see which users have logged in over the last day/month/year • An Admin can visit users’ profiles
System Administration • This is where hard-core system configuration is done. • Browse, search, or edit users, turn on/off system access, make Admin, set document limit, visit profiles (see later slide) • App Settings - Setup tabs and other main configuration (see later slide) • System Info - a variety of system statistics. No configuration • Configuration - a variety of system setup info. No configuration • Branding & SEO - change theme, color scheme, hidden site text for SEO • Site CSS - view main site CSS. No changes allowed yet. • API - add and modify what mobile apps can talk to the system • Sync - sync site data with Management Console if configured
User Administration Search User • Clicking on Manage Users brings up a search page to find the user you want • You can search by any combination of email, first, or last name on the left. • Searching for “Man” will get you all Manos, Manning, etc. The more search entries you use, the narrower the search (they are “and-ed”) • Putting “hotmail.com” in the email field will give you all users with hotmail.com addresses • You can also filter on the right with a variety of filters • To look for users who are disabled, leave the left blank and select “no” in the Account Enabled dropdown
User Administration User List • In this case, the search term was just “David”. There were 247 results returned • You can either page through the results looking for the one you want, or run a more narrow search, like putting in a last name. • You can visit the profiles or edit the user (later slide) • Editing user via the select button brings up a long page with two main sections • Contact Information • System Access
User Administration Contact Info • In Contact Information you can • Change a user’s name, organization, and email address • Be sure to click “Save” at the bottom of this long screen! • Note that changing the email address also changes the user’s login
User Administration System Access • In System Access you can • Enable/Disable login ability (uncheck the Login checkbox) • Set up an Account Expiration (not often used) • Give Admin privileges (Danger! Use Sparingly! Admin can modify anything in the system!) • Give Community Management role (ability to use Management Console, if installed) • Allow user to create projects (this is turned off even for Admin by default) • Don’t use the Contacts boxes • Don’t use Subscriptions • Set a limit to the amount of Documents in MB a user can store in Document Management (set to unlimited by default) • Remember to click Save at the bottom of the page!
User Administration Application Settings • The two main capabilities here are managing Tabs and Action Plans • The rest are specialty and not discussed here • You can also modify the default settings for document folders, forums, picture albums, lists, ticket categories, and wikis for all the profile types
User Administration Tabs/Objects • There are 17 different Tabs configured into this system. Yours may have more or fewer based on the actual configuration. I have shown one here (Products) • The main capability you will use here is deciding which Tabs are displayed and what they are named • Feel free to experiment by turning on Tabs to see what they look like. You can always turn them back off again • Note that turning a Tab on or off does not affect/disturb its data or Profiles.
User Administration Modify Tab • Change the name of a Tab by modifying the Label. Results are immediate after save • Change display order on all pages. Lower numbers to the left. • Turn on/off the display of a Tab on the Access line. You can also • Hide a Tab so it does not show on pages but is still available through its link • Make a Tab only visible/available to logged in users • It’s best to leave the rest of the capabilities alone as they are only useful in special cases and can damage the system if misused • NEVER DELETE A TAB! ONLY ENABLE/DISABLE!
User Administration Default Profile Data • These options set up the default parameters for a variety of sub-tabs • Folders defines the document folders that appear in a new Documents tab • Similarly with Forums, Albums (Photos), Lists, Tickets, Wiki, and Ads (most won’t be using these). • These are just defaults and can be changed or added to by each user
User Administration Default Profile Data • An example - People (Personal Profiles) Document Folders • Two defined (My Documents, My Pictures) • Clicking Select results in a dialog to edit (add, delete, modify the default folders • Changes will only be seen by new registrants
Second Day • Some of the more complex and esoteric capabilities of Connect • Programs • Action Plans • Projects • Work Plans • Tickets
The Programs Tab • Programs provide a way to input, organize, validate, and approve data for things like grant applications that require filling out forms, making statements, or uploading documents • A hybrid Profile using Projects, and Action Plans • Each user needing to be run through the Program gets their own copy of a Project and Action Plan • Each Project/AP rolls up to the Program level, providing a managers view of all the Projects in the Program and how much is complete
Creating a Program • Creating a Program involves three steps, done in order • Create the Action Plan (AP) for the Program in Admin • It’s important to think the AP through first as it’s the central component to the Program, and changing it later is a little problematic. Time and effort spent now is saved later! • Create the Program in the Programs tab, and link to the AP created for it • Add a Project in the new Program Profile • Invite applicant into the Project
New Program: Action Plan • Click Admin --> Application Settings --> Action Plans --> Add an Action Plan • Existing APs are shown
New Program: Add Action Plan • Select Programs as the Site Category • Name the AP something that will be descriptive and specific. You may be naming others something similar later! • Add a Description - more is better here. After you get a lot of APs, they all start to look alike. Be descriptive! • Click Save
New Program: Action Plan Added • The new AP (Training Action Plan) is now in the list. It can be renamed or deleted • Click the name of the AP to go to the AP Editor
Action Plan Editor • APs are built in Phases, although only one Phase is required • It’s a way of organizing the activities in an AP • Click Add a Phase to add your first Phase. • I will add a Phase for the next slide • Gather Contact Information • There only needs to be one Phase, and you can name it anything you want
Action Plan Add a Phase • After clicking Add a Phase you • Name the Phase • Provide a good description • Specify whether the steps in the Phase (if more then one) can be completed in random order or must be competed sequentially • Specify if this Phase is Global and exists outside of Phase order • Save
Action Plan Add a Step (2) • After clicking Save, you are presented with the option to • Add another Phase, or • Add a Step • We will add some Steps now, and describe what Steps are
Action Plan Add a Step • Describe the Step • Choose what action must be completed from the dropdown • Declare the step mandatory or not • Estimate the amount of time required to complete the step • Define who is allowed to complete the step • I selected a User that will be specified when the AP is actually used. This will be the User who is the Applicant in each Program Profile • Select what Role can review/approve the step when complete • Allow the user to save an unfinished step and complete it later • Note that Description is the only required entry on this page! • Save!
Action Step Required Action • Select the Required Action • Attach a Document (file upload) • Create a single note ( no upload, done on the form itself) • Create multiple notes • Fill out a form (We will do this. The others are reasonably self explanatory) • Create a Post (in a Blog tab within this Project) • Upload multiple documents
Action Step Who can Complete • Who can complete this step: three choices • Anyone • Member of a specific role in this Project (VIP, Champion, etc) • A User specified by the Manager. This is the usual choice. The Manager chooses the user when a Project is created. The user is usually the Applicant
Action Step Who can Review • Who can Review this step: by Role - Anyone at or senior to the selected Role • You can just use Manager normally • Sometimes you will have judges or experts that will need to review. Just assign your judges a VIP (or whatever, NOT MANAGER) Role and select that Role.
Action Step Complete • After clicking Save, you are back at the Phase page, with your newly created Step • From here you can • Perform some action on the Phase or Step (next slide) • Create the Form you just required for the Step • Add Step(s) (Maybe you want to gather spouse and Children info) • Add a new Phase and associated Step(s) • We will create a simple Form
AP Editor Modify Step • Clicking on the name of a Step allows you to • Go back and modify the step • Move the step up or down in the list of Steps • Add a new Step before or after this one • Delete this Step • The same applies to clicking on the name of a Phase • Be aware that any changes will not apply to Action Plans that are already in use in a Project. Only for new Action Plans in new Projects created from the Programs page
AP Editor Create Form • Clicking Create a Form results in a page with a single text box allowing you to name the Form • I’ll name this one “Gather Contact Data”
AP Form Editor • Forms are organized into Sections and Fields • Sections are like Phases in an AP and are not required. • Nice to use if you have a lot of Fields that can be separated by function • Contact information • Family information • Employment • Education • We will not use them here • There is a Form Markup editor on the right which is for experts only • Let’s add some Fields and explain the possibilities
AP Form Add Field 1 • We’ll separate the process of adding a Field into three slides • This is the top portion of the Add a Field page • The first part is choosing which Section this Field should be appended to (if you have defined Sections, this dropdown would allow you to choose • Next is a non-required text field used for giving instructions for the person filling out the form. Use this as necessary • Finally, the label that will show on the form, i.e. “First Name”. This is mandatory.
AP Form Add Field 2 • The bottom half of the page is more interesting • First the Field Type. There are many choices, the default is “Text” (next slide) • The next field changes depending on the Field Type chosen. Here it can limit the text box to something less than the default 255 characters • Next allows you to add some additional info for this Field if you want to. • Finally, a checkbox that requires the Field to be completed in order for the Form to be completed/validated. You can’t say you’re done without filling out this Field. This is usually checked.
AP Form Field Types 1 • Field Types - all will have labels/names that you give them: • Text - just a text box, max 255 characters. Can limit. • Text Area - a larger text box with unlimited area. Use for lots of input • Check Box - a single Check Box (yes or no). You label it • Multiple Selection list (many check boxes) You label them • Calendar - select date from calendar or type one in. Checked for validity • Number - can specify below, above, between, max or min • Decimal number - same choices as Number • Percent - same choices as Number • Currency - same choices as above. Uses system currency • Email address - checked for valid format • URL - checked for valid format • Phone number - checked for valid format • Country - results in a Country select dropdown on the form • User List - This is not used for Programs and will not work. Will be removed in a future version
AP Form Add Field 3 • If you are gathering a lot of information, it might be best to define multiple Forms with multiple Sections in multiple AP Phases • The system is very flexible and scales from simple one or two field forms to extensive data gathering and validation Forms/Phases
Projects Splash Page • Projects - as it says above • Similar to most Profile types with a couple of differences • A Project can only be created by a user with permission to do so (Admin) • Projects are almost always private. They cannot be searched for unless you are a Member • Always by invitation only • They use some special sub-tabs • Plan - a project plan, like a MS Project-light • Tickets - trouble ticketing and resolution
Projects Plan • Project Plan - like a fancy outline • If you are familiar with MS Project, etc, you will find this similar, except • No GANTT charts • No dependencies • Does include • Ability to group steps together by indentation or Folders • Priorities, Assignments, LOE, Start/End dates, Status, Notes
Create a Project 1 • Clicking Add a Standalone Project results in the Project Definition form • Enter a Project name • A location if applicable • A PO Number if applicable • A contact person (name, email, phone, etc.)
Create a Project 2 • Enter Project Start/End dates if desired • If this is a budgeted Project, enter the budget amount in the proper currency • Enter a Category if desired (Categories modifiable in Admin) • Do not use Related Workflow at the bottom • Save!
New Project Created • Pressing Save informs you that your new Project is available and clicking on the name takes you to the Project
New Project Splash Page • The new Project page looks like most new Profile pages, except: • It has Deliverables, Tasks, Issues • It allows for cloning of the Project (later slide) • Note that your sub-tab names may be different and can be changed by an Admin • Now you can • Invite members • Create a Project Plan (Deliverables in this System)
Deliverables Page • Clicking Deliverables shows this blank page • Click New Outline to begin defining the Project