Before proceeding to set-up the employees in your organisation, you need to look at your team structure. Teams are used to classify employees into specific groups to enable security around sets of documents, records or contacts. You need to consider what type of security your require and how you wish to have access to particular areas within the firm before setting up teams. Please consult your client manager if you need assistance in this area.
Teams Set-up
Go to File > Administration > Organisation > Teams
Click New to create a new team description or select an existing team and click Edit to edit a team description or Delete to delete a team description.
If New or Edit is clicked, the Team Details dialog appears. Enter or change the description and/or password.
If you select to Delete a team that is in use, you will receive a message saying that the team is in use and deletion is prohibited.
Click Close when finished creating or editing teams.
**If you are the Owner of a Team you won't be prompted for a password when editing Team details and assigning Employees to Teams.
Position Types Set-up
Go to File > Administration > Position Types
Position Types are descriptions of the various positions in your organisation. Position Types can be used as headings as well and can display in different colours. This dialog allows position types to be created, edited or deleted. In addition, Default Related Documents (such as Position Descriptions and Primary and Secondary Procedures) can be attached to specific Position Types so that these documents are automatically attached to positions when those positions are created.
Note: If default documents are not attached to position types they can be attached at a later stage by using the Re-attach button on the Person/Position Editor dialog.
- To create a new Position Type, click New. Then enter a new name and click OK.
- To edit the description of an existing Position Type, select a Position Type and click Edit. Then edit the name and click OK. If the position type already exists you will not be able to change the description.
- To delete an existing Position Type, select a Position Type and click Delete.
Attaching Position Descriptions or Procedures to Position Types
- Select the Position Type to which you wish to add a position description or procedure.
- Select Add from the second window "Default Related Documents for Selected Position Type".
- Select Position Description, Primary Procedure or Secondary Procedure in the Entry Type drop-down.
- Click the browse ("open folder") button at the end of the Document field. The Item Select dialog will appear. (The item you wish to add needs to be included in HowNow Knowledge and be a current document)
- Click on the Procedures and/or Document Type filter in the left pane, and then type search terms (or you can bypass the filter and just type in the search terms) in the search field to locate the document you wish to attach to the Position Type.
- Scroll down the list of documents until you see the appropriate document. Click once on that document (to highlight the row) and click Select.
- Click OK to close the Add to Position Type dialog.
Employee Set-up
This dialog displays a sorted list of all Employees that have been entered into HowNow and allows new Employees to be added or existing Employees to be edited or deleted. To view the Employee Select dialog, select File > Administration > Organisation > Employees.
The list can be filtered by typing part of a person’s name into the Find field. The various columns indicate whether each Employee is Active, Off-Site (meaning they are part of the organisation but do not have a login to HowNow), Administrator, Content Administrator, HR Administrator, Author, Content Reviewer, Partner, Manager or Record Reviewer. The Administrator and Author/Reviewer items refer to privileges (access rights) in HowNow.
Employee Actions
- Add a new person, click New. Then see Employee Details.
- To Edit an existing person, either double-click their row or select the row and click Edit. Then see Employee Details.
- To Delete a person, select the row and click the Delete button. It is strongly recommended that people are set to inactive, rather than deleting them. That way, document usage and other statistics are preserved.
Print Options
- Choose Export to Excel to export a list of employees to Excel - you will be asked to provide a file name for the report and optionally open the report on save.
- Choose Print Preview to see a list of employees on screen - the report can be saved or printed from this option.
Employee Details
The details area displays the set-up details for all employees.
Employee Information
- First Names: Enter the employee's first name. Note: If yours is a large organisation, also enter the employee's middle initial(s) or middle name(s). This is only needed to differentiate between employees in your organisation.
- Last Name: Enter the employee's last name.
- Initials: HowNow automatically enters the initials but these may be edited.
- Email: Enter the employee's email address.
Login Information
- Windows Username - This is the user name the person will use to log into (i.e. open) HowNow. It should be the same as the person’s Windows logon name so that HowNow can logon automatically without prompting the user.
- Password - This is the password the person will use to login to HowNow. Normally, only the administrator should consider using a password. If a password is entered, HowNow will not be able to perform an automatic logon.
- Confirm Password - Re-enter the password supplied in the password box or the password will not be saved.
Employee Status
- Employee is Active - The default status is Active. Inactive status is applied in the event that the person leaves the organisation.
- Employee is Off-Site - Check this box if a person does not need to logon to HowNow, but is part of the organisation. This option allows more employees to be added to HowNow than is specified by the maximum number of licensed users. Only on-site employees can logon to HowNow.
Profile
The Profile section contains each employee's personal information.
- Address - Enter the employee's address if required. This information is used to address letters that may be sent to the employee.
- Phone - Mobile/Work/Home: Enter the employee's phone details.
- Email - Enter the employee's work email address. Note: this address is required if a document or record is emailed.
- Birthday - Enter the employee's date of birth - leave the year at 1901 to only show the day and month.
- Start Date - Use this field to record the person’s start date.
- Mentor - Use this field to select a mentor for this employee.
- Qualifications - Use this field to record the employee's qualifications.
- Viewable Information - Select the information that can be seen by other staff on the Organisation tab.
- Profile Picture - Allows an employee’s photo to be added or edited. Image: If you have JEPG (*.jpg) or bitmap (*.bmp) images of your organisation’s employees that you wish to display in the Organisation section of HowNow, click Select, browse to the appropriate file anywhere on your network, select the file, and then click Open. Note: Only the administrator can add or edit a photo. Note: As pictures are only displayed on-screen in 72dpi, creating files with a resolution greater than 72dpi simply wastes hard drive space.
Privileges
The Privileges area displays the various settings that control this employee's access to HowNow. Select those items that apply to each employee. After understanding all the various privileges that are available, it is important to create a map of each employee's level of responsibility before setting up this area.
System - Administration
- The HowNow Administrator is responsible for the day-to-day maintenance of HowNow within your organisation and has access to all areas of HowNow.
- The HR Administrator is a special type of HowNow Administrator who can only administer the HR functions of Employees, Position Types and Teams. This is only available where the employee is not the overall administrator.
- The Content Administrator is a special type of HowNow Administrator who is equivalent to an Author but who can also make documents current. This is only available where the employee is not the overall administrator.
- The Software Updater is the person responsible for administering software updates. There needs to be at least one Software Updater. If a software updater leaves the organisation, another employee needs to be appointed to this role.
System - Roles
- Select Partner if this person is a partner or director of the organisation.
- Select Manager if this person is a manager.
- Select Record Reviewer if this person is a reviewer of records.
- Select Signatory if this person signs letters and other documents.
Knowledge
- The Content Updater is the person responsible for downloading and administering content updates. Note: The content updater does not have to be an administrator and there can be only be one content updater.
- A Content Author is able to add and edit knowledge documents in HowNow. You can set up multiple Content Authors.
- A Content Reviewer is a person responsible for reviewing new and updated HowNow content within your organisation. You can set up multiple Content Reviewers within HowNow. A Reviewer can edit, but not add, knowledge documents to HowNow.
Records
- Select Can access Records tab for all employees who will be saving and accessing records (this is checked by default).
- Select Can Profile Select to allow this person to edit multiple record profiles even though they are not an administrator.
- Select Can Edit Record Profiles to allow this person to edit record profiles even though they are not an administrator.
- Select Can Un-finalise Records if this person is allowed to change the Final status on records. Note: If the employee has system privileges of HowNow Administrator, Partner, Manager, Record Reviewer or Signatory they will still be able to un-finalise records without this option selected.
- Select Can Import Records to allow this person to import records. This setting controls the Records > Import menu.
- Select Show Change Status Dialog on Record Close to display the Record Change Status Dialog each time this person closes a non-final record. As part of this function, you can select on which record statuses the prompt is required.
Contacts
- Select Can Add Contacts to allow this person to add contacts to the contacts database.
- Select Can Edit Contacts to allow this person to edit contact details.
- The Contact Data Updater can refresh the linked contact data at any time. There can be more than one Contact Data Updater.
Workflow (if the optional Workflow module is installed)
- Select Can access the Job tab to allow this person access to the Jobs and Tasks tabs.
- Select Can Create Job to allow this person to create jobs even though they are not an administrator.
- Select the option that specifies how this person uses the job selection field on Workflow dialogs. The options are:
- Select Can Start Inactive Tasks to allow this person to start inactive tasks. If it is not checked, a task can only be started by completing the previous task.
- Job Selection Field - options are:
- Start at - the job selection field has focus and default values can be changed.
- Don't start at - this allows jobs to be used only if required.
- Force - ensures the use of jobs when filing records.
- Don't show - this is equivalent to not having Workflow installed.
Settings
This area contains additional settings that relates to the employee.
Application Settings - Screen Options
- Open HowNow full screen: Select this checkbox if the user wishes to have HowNow display full screen (i.e. maximised) when they first open HowNow. Leave this checkbox unselected if they prefer to have the HowNow application cover only part of the screen when they first login.
- Minimise HowNow to the System Tray: When ticked this adds a HowNow Icon to the System Tray and when the main HowNow window is minimised it is removed from the taskbar and minimised to the tray. To restore HowNow simply click on the HowNow icon in the System Tray.
- Open HowNow on tab: Choose the tab that the user wishes to be selected when opening HowNow. Choose from Last Opened, Knowledge, Records, Contacts, Tasks.
- Reset Display Settings to Default: This option resets all the settings back to the HowNow default.
Application Settings - Preview Options
- Knowledge Preview - turns preview on for knowledge documents
- Records Preview - turns preview on for records
Application Settings - Bookmark Options
- Use Outlook for Email Bookmarks: this is used by Outlook Security Manager when connecting to Outlook for email bookmarks - this removes the Outlook security prompt "Allow or Deny".
User Defaults - Default Dates
- Date Range: Sets the default date range on the Records Tab, provided the System Options has been set to allow users to select their own default. The options range from Today to Last 5 Years.
- Date Type: This is the method by which the date range is selected - choose from Added, Created, Modified or Finalised.
User Defaults - Default Employee Roles
- Default Partner, Manager and Reviewer: Values selected here are used as the defaults whenever a partner, manager or reviewer is requested.
User Defaults - Treeview Expansion
- Knowledge Filter Level: Sets the level to which HowNow initially displays the left-hand filter panel items. A lower number shows less detail; a higher number shows more detail.
- Record Location Level: Sets the level to which HowNow initially displays record locations on various dialogs. A lower number shows less detail; a higher number shows more detail.
User Defaults - Folder Options
- Enable Folder Monitoring: Enables monitoring of a selected folder for new documents or records. This option is only available if folder monitoring is enabled in System Options.
- Folder to Monitor: Allows the user to choose which folder on their system they would like HowNow to monitor when using the Monitor a Folder function.
Teams
This area allows teams to be assigned to the employee. To add the employee to one or more teams, check or uncheck the appropriate teams. Attaching a person to one or more teams will restrict their document and record visibility to only those documents or records attached to the team or teams they belong to.
Positions
The Positions area displays the Positions that apply to each employee. Clicking the Positions button displays the Positions Editor. A Position in the organisation is a combination of two things: a Position Type and an Employee. An employee can have more than one Position in the organisation. To display the Positions dialog select File > Administration >Organisation > Employees > Positions.
To make changes to Positions, select the Positions button. To create a new position, on the same level as an existing position, select the existing position, click the Same Level radio button and click New. Then see Position Details. To create a new position, on a lower level to an existing position, select the existing position, click the Sub-Level radio button and click New. Then see Position Details. To edit an existing position, select the position and click Edit. To delete an existing position, select the position and click Delete.
Positions can be dragged and dropped to move them within the organisation chart. First select the appropriate radio button to specify whether you are moving the position to the Same Level or to a Sub-level compared to the position you will drag and drop the position onto. Then drag and drop the position.
When a new position is created, the default position description and primary and secondary procedure documents attached to the position type are attached to the new position. These documents can be removed from or new ones attached to the position to tailor it according to specific requirements. Note: The original position description document should not be edited or copied. Simply attach or remove procedures to create the specific position description.
To re-attach the default position description and procedure documents to a position, select the position entry in the list and click the Re-attach button. This will replace any of the original default documents that were removed but it will not affect any new documents that have been attached to the position.
Position Details
This dialog allows organisation positions to be created or edited. Select a Position from the Position drop-down.
- Select the appropriate person’s name from the Employee drop-down. If this Position is to be a title or a heading, select N/A from the list.
- Select a colour from the Colour drop-down list. The default is black.
- Select Bold Font if the position is to be displayed in bold.
- Click OK to save the position or Cancel to cancel any changes.
Toolbar Applications
The Toolbar Applications tab is an optional function that allows each employee to populate the HowNow toolbar with their own applications. For example, you can place an icon on the HowNow toolbar that starts your accounting system. The Toolbar Applications tab can be completed either by each user or the administrator. For information on setting up applications to be used on the toolbar, see Toolbar Applications.
Alerts
The Alerts tab enables alerts to be controlled on an individual basis. Note: only those alerts set to User Select in File > Options > Alerts can be changed.
- Alert Name: check this box to enable the individual alert area.
- Alert Type: select the type of alert to be received. The options are:
- HowNow Alert: display an alert message in the bottom left of the screen.
- Email: send alerts via email.
- Alert Frequency: select the frequency with which alerts are to be displayed. The options are:
- As Events Occur: alerts are sent immediately.
- 1 Day: delay sending by 24 hours.
- 3 Days: delay sending for 3 days.
- 7 Days: delay sending for 7 days.