admin

Roles

 The Roles Module is used to define the permissions of an administrative role so you can limit the modules and functions that other administrators have when the login to the admin console.  In addition it is where you assign an existing user or users to an existing role.

NOTE:  A user must already be in your user list and registered to the interface before you can assign them to a role.

Administrators and End Users both login to the site through the same login page.  However, Administrators, because they have been assigned a role, will see an Administration link on their EZCommunicator navigation menu once their user name and password have been authenticated.

NOTE: Roles do not apply to End Users, only Administrators. 

Roles – Assign Users

Users can be assigned to any administrative roles already defined for your interface. 

Step 1: Select the role to which you want to assign one or more user. 

Step 2: Then using the list of available users on the left, check the box next to their name and add them to the users assigned to the selected role.  When finished selecting and adding all the users for this role, then click the SAVE button to assure that the role assignments are saved to the database.

You can assign as many people to a single role that you want.  You can also assign users to multiple roles and EZCommunicator will keep track of their combined permissions.

Roles – Define Role

The first step to using roles is to define a role.  This is done by choosing the Roles -> Define Roles function.  This function allows you to create or edit an existing Admin Role by selecting the Modules, Functions and Specialized Features assigned to that role.

Modules and related functions directly affect what controls are available on the administrative control panel while Specialized Features do not directly relate to the Admin Navigation menu.  Instead, they are functions such as Knowledgebase Responder that apply to administrative functionality.

Once a role has been created any registered user in the system can be assigned to that role by using the Roles ->Assign Users function.  Any number of users can be assigned to a role, and an individual user can be assigned to multiple roles.  The roles an Administrator has been assigned will appear above the Admin navigation menu when they access the Admin Interface. 

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How To Subscribe Users To A News Group

While users will generally subscribe to a news group through your EZCommunicator site, you can also assign them to a news group via the administration console.  You may want to do this if your user cannot access their account online, or if you have a list of users and want to subscribe them all to the same group. There are several different options you can use to subscribe users to a group -

Edit Individual User Records

This option works best if you have one or a few users to assign to a group.

Step 1: Search for the user by name or email

Go to Users > Search and type the name, email, username or other identifying value on the user’s record and click SEARCH.  Edit the individual user’s record by click on their last name.

Step 2: Choose the group/option(s) and Add to the user’s profile

Scroll down the user’s profile page until you get to the Groups section.  The available groups/options are displayed on the left and the currently subscribed options are displayed on the right.  Highlight the option(s) in the available list and click ADD to add them to the user’s profile.

Step 3:Update the user record

Click the Update link to save your news group assignments.  Then repeat these steps for any additional users.

Assign Users From The List Or Search Page

This option works best if you do not want to edit the individual record of a user, and can easily browse and select your users.

Step 1: Search for the user by name or email

Go to Users > Search and type the name, email, username or other identifying value on the user’s record and click SEARCH.

Step 2: Select the user(s) you want to assign to the news group

Using the checkbox on a user’s record, select each user that you want to subscribe to a news group.  You can select users across multiple list pages before you assign them to a group.

Step 3:Choose the Action ‘Assign To Group’

After selecting your users, use the dropdown menu in the top right of your list page and select Assign To Group.  This will display a second dropdown list of the News Groups in your interface.  Choose the group you want to assign the selected users and click the GO button next to the group name.  This will assign all selected users to that group.

Import Groups

This option works best if you have a long list of users to add to a group.

Step 1: Create a CSV file

Use Excel or any desktop text editor to create a file that contains all the users who will be subscribed to your news group option.

Step 2: Users > Import Groups

In your admin console go to the Users Module and then the Import Groups function.  This function will only subscribe a user to a news group if the user already exists in your database and if they can be matched to a record.

Step 3: Choose the CSV file from your computer hard drive

Once you select the file click the LOAD link.  This will scan your file and load the header row of your file so you can choose the data columns used in the next few steps.

Step 4:  Choose the field used to match users

You must choose the field/column in your file and the field in your user database that will be used to match a user and subscribe them to your news group.  If two users have the same value for the selected match field (e.g. – two users have the same email address and you choose to match by email), only the first user will be subscribed to the news group.

Step 5: Choose the field containing the news group option

This news group option must already exist in your groups list and must be ‘unique’.  The option name must match exactly with the selected field in your file.  For example, if you want to import subscribers to Newsletters [School News], then you would select the field in your file that contains the text string ‘School News’ as the group to assign users.

Note:  You can combine multiple news group subscriptions in your import file.  For example, if you were importing parents into grade level news groups and had created options for Grade_1 to Grade_5 you can include all the grade levels for parents in one file and EZCommunicator would assign each user to the appropriate grade level.

Step 6: Select a method for handling duplicates

You should choose MERGE if you want to add the group to the user’s record, but do not want to remove any subscriptions.  You would choose REPLACE if you were going to replace all existing subscriptions on a user’s record with the new ones you are importing.

Step 7: Click the IMPORT button

The import function will process your entire file and generate an exception for each user record it cannot match to an existing user or any group name it cannot match to an existing group name in your database.

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How To Add A Frequently Answered Question

Frequently Answered Questions or FAQs are the content of the knowledgebase module of EZCommunicator.  FAQs can be added either by a user posting a question and a category responder answering the question, or by an Administrator seeding the FAQ by posting the question and answer through the Admin Console.

To add a Frequently Answered Question in the Admin console go to Knowledgebase > Questions > Add, then follow these steps -

Step 1: Input questions details

When seeding the knowledgebase with a FAQ you will need to input a user name and email address.  This is usually done with a generic name and email, such as Relatrix Support – support@relatrix.com. Then

Step 2: Select the Category

This is the knowledgebase category where the FAQ you are created will be added.  Users can search by category or keyword/key phrase.

Step 3: Select the Source of the Question

You will generally choose Website for the source, but if you are adding a question that came from a phone call or email outside of EZCommunicator, you can choose these or other alternative sources.

Step 4: Type the question

The question should be general enough that it could apply to more than one user.  It should setup the answer that you are going to provide.  As an example, rather than posting ‘When is the next school board meeting’, try ‘What is the schedule for school board meetings…’.  This will allow you to answer with details about the regularly scheduled meetings of the board.

This should be written in a ‘general’ form so that it will make sense and be applicable to the largest possible audience of website visitors.

Step 5: Click the ANSWER button

If you are seeding the knowledgebase with a new FAQ then you should click ANSWER.  If you want to submit a question that will be sent to a category responder then click LOG QUESTION.

Step 6: Type the answer

The answer should also be general enough that it could apply to more than one user.  You can insert links to other web pages or image files you want to include in your answer, or cut and paste from another document, such as an MS-Word file.  You can also choose to attach a document, like a PDF to the FAQ so users can download the file when viewing the answer.

Step 7: Choose public or private

When you seed a question in the knowledgebase you will generally choose public, so that website visitors can view the FAQ when they search your knowledgebase.

Step 8: Submit the question

After inputting the details of your FAQ, click submit and it will be added to the knowledgebase.

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How To Create A New Interface

An interface lets you empower your schools or departments with the same online communication functions used at the central office.  To create a new interface you must first have the school or location you’re creating the interface for registered in the Schools Module.

Note: If you are going to assign a school Interface Administrator that individual(s) must be a registered user in your database.  The administrator’s record will be updated so they are registered to the new interface you are creating.

To create a new interface go to Interfaces > Add, then follow the below steps -

Step 1: Choose a name for the Interface

On the add interface pages assign a name to the interface.  This name will appear on your interface module list of interfaces.  It will also appear on the My Account page so users can distinguish between different groups from different interfaces.

Step 2: Select the Location

Choose the school or location that you are creating the interface for.  This location must already exist in your Schools Module.

Step 3: Configure with Spanish

Click this checkbox if you would like to configure with Spanish.  You will need to create your own Spanish version for each End User Interface (EUI) page via the Configuration module.

Step 4: Enable Social Media

Click this checkbox if you would like to enable social media on this new interface.  You will need to setup social media posting in the Configuration module of the new interface after it has been created.

Step 5: Type a Mailbox for the new interface.

This is the email account on the EZCommunicator email server from which all of your email messages for this new interface will be sent.  Make this mailbox a unique and meaningful name for this interface.

For example, an Elementary school called Washington might have a mailbox called Washington_Elem@ezcommunicator.com.  This mailbox is also processed for bounced emails, so the interface administrator can track and fix bad email addresses.

Step 6: Input a Display Name for your interface Mailbox

This will be the name displayed in your users’ in-box as who the email is from.

Step 7: Type a Reply To address

By default this will be the Mailbox you setup for this interface.  However, if you want users to be able to reply to a different email account you can input that address in this field.

Note: If you wish to test your email configuration (not required), type in your email in the “Test to:” box and click Test email configuration.

Step 8: Select your Interface Administrator(s)

 

Use the alphabetically listing to find and select (click the checkbox) interface administrators from the user list of your district interface.  You can select as many administrators as you wish.  Click Add.  They will automatically be assigned to the new interface, once it is successfully created.

 

Step 9: Create your Interface

 

Scroll to the bottom of the page and click ADD/UPDATE to create your new interface.

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How To Add An Interface Administrator

Administrators have access to the Administrator Console of EZCommunicator.  All administrators must first be signed up with a user account to be assigned to an administrator role.  There are two classes of administrators, depending on whether you use EZCommunicator at your schools as well as your central office.

Step 1: Add New User

If the administrator does not have a user account you will need to create one for them.  To do this go the User > Add and fill out the new user form with Username, Password and Email Address.  Other information can be completed by the new user once they are logged onto their account. You have the option at the top of Add User page to have the system email them their access credentials.

Step 2: Define Role

If the new administrator is not going to have the same permissions as other administrators then you will need to define a new role.  This is done by going to Roles > Define Role and typing the name of the new role and then selecting the modules, functions and specialized features that the new admin role will have.

Step 3: Assign Users

Once you have added the user account and defined the role to which they will be assigned, the last step is to go to Roles > Assign Users. Select the role to which they will be assigned from the drop down list and the user account from the alphabetized list of users. Be sure to click Save once you have selected the user and clicked on the Add button to move them to the list on the right hand side of the screen.

Note: Users can be assigned to multiple admin roles.  EZCommunicator will combine the permissions of all assigned roles and give access to any modules, functions and features from each role.