Manage Site Questions

This section answers questions specific to site management within the SIB interface.

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What is Digest Email and how does it work?

Digest Email is a new setting in SIB that changes how email is sent to your site users. When Digest Email is enabled, notifications are not sent to users every time you authorize an updated or new profile. Instead, a single message is sent at a regular interval (you can choose the interval) to your users with all the notifications from that interval.

For example, if your Digest Frequency is set to Weekly, once a week SIB will send your site users a single e-mail with all the updates to the site that happened that week. If your Digest Frequency is set to Monthly, once a month SIB will send your site users a single e-mail with all the updates to the site that happened that month.

The Digest Email sub-tab (on the Manage Settings tab) lists all the items that have been authorized since the last digest e-mail was sent. This table includes the following columns:

  • Description. The Description column shows the title of each authorized item. You can click on the title to view the item.
  • Date. The Date column shows the date the item was updated (not the date the item was authorized).
  • Action. The Action column has two options: Edit and Del. Use Edit to open the item for modification. This is the same as finding the item by browsing through the site and clicking on the Admin Edit link (the little head). Use Del to delete the item from the SIB database. (NOTE: This does not just remove the item from the digest. The DEL link DELETES THE ITEM PERMANENTLY from the SIB database. Use the DEL link with caution!)
  • Included. The Included column has two options: Yes and No. If Yes is selected, the item will be included in the next Digest Email. If No is selected, the item will be excluded from the next Digest Email. If you make changes to items in this column, you must click the Update button at the bottom of the table to save your changes.

In addition, this page also shows the frequency of your digest settings, and the date the last digest was sent. You can change this setting on the Site Settings tab, Settings sub-tab.

How do I add a new mission president to SIB?

  1. Log in as Admin
  2. From the Manage Site section, click on the submenu link to Presidents Info.
  3. Click "Add President" at the bottom of the page listing all of the mission presidents.

From here you can also Edit or Delete a Presidents Profile.

How do I use the search function for Manage Site?

One tip you might want to try is to not enter the entire name. The search works off of partial words. So if I were serching for my own name, I would enter 'Dan' instead of 'Dan Wilson'. This will of course also include any 'Danielsons' or something similar, but you will then be able to click on the proper record.

Regarding the ID number...that is a numeric identification assigned to anyone who registers on your alumni site. For example, if we take a look at an alumnus profile.

http://www.mission.net/china/hong-kong/alumnilist.php?uID=74879

The last five numbers of the above URL are your ID. It's one way for the site administrator to quickly lookup a profile. I'm not aware of any admin utility to list all ID's. When you move your cursor over someone's profile, it shows the URL in the bottom of the web browser with the ID.

As for the other search functions, the Email search works when you input the first part of the email address before the @ sign. Back to Top

What is the function of the page admin password?

By using the page admin feature of the custom pages – you no longer need to have a password assigned to a custom page. Rather, you can assign other members of your website as page admins. When you do this – all they do is login to the site as normal, and when they then navigate to the custom page that you have assigned them to – they will get a link “[Page Admin]” at the top of the custom page which allows them to edit the content of that page. By doing this, you can remove any password associated with the page – as each user already has his/her own site password.

The password was left in mainly for backwards compatibility – leave the old way of letting others edit custom pages continue to work. The two features also work together just fine. If you really wanted to – you could have a page password, and give that password out to people to edit a custom page – and at the same time assign an alumnus member profile to have permissions to edit that page. If you do this – the custom page just has multiple ways to edit it (either via profile login, or via custom page login). If you have a password assigned to a custom page – then the “[Page Admin]” link will always appear at the top of that page, whether you are logged in as an assigned page admin to that page or not. If you are not assigned as a page admin to that page, then by clicking the “[Page Admin]” link you are asked for a password before given access to edit the page.

The hope in adding this feature was to make it easier to allow other alumni to assist in adding/editing content on the site without having to give them another password, and without having to open up the entire administration system to them. Also – by not using the page password you make the custom page much more secure, as only assigned users to that page can edit it.

What is the function of Flush Cache?

Clicking on the link flushes cached database queries... in actuallity, this should never be needed. The respective queries should get flushed whenever changes to their data is made.

Why would a "Live" record set to default yes be changed to no?

Live (Active) records can be found in searches and are viewable on the web by everyone. Records that you set to 'Not Live' (Inactive) are no longer available on the web. It is useful to set a record to 'Not Live' if you want to quickly prevent people from accessing something that may be questionable, or isn't completed as you would like. New records are automatically set to 'Live' when you authorize them or if you have auto-authorization turned on.

How do I delete or edit an existing poll?

  1. Login as Admin
  2. In the seach field where it displays Profile, click the down arrow and select Polls.
  3. Click the Search button. All current polls will be displayed. There you can see the options to Delete or make them inactive.

There is currently no option available to edit an existing poll.

How many email notifications are sent when I approve a posting?

Notifications are sent to all alumni who opt-in when they sign up. If they don't want the notifications, they can opt-out on their profiles.

What does the 'pass' option do when viewing a profile from admin?

The 'pass' option allows you to automatically send a password request for that particular person. Makes it easier to do an update and send a password from one location than having to navigate around back through the end user side to do a "Password Request". You should remember, however, that this will reset the user's password, and will e-mail them a random string of characters to use as a temporary password.

How does the "Expired Only" search function work?

First, be sure you are logged in as Admin. Then go to the Manage Site section of Admin. Change the search Type to "Currently Serving" by clicking on the down arrow and then checkmark the "Expired Only" option. Click the Search button. The results are a list of Current Missionary profiles that have expired when their mission end date passed. You can also use the Expired Only search for Reunions which will find the reunions submissions that have passed the date of expiry.

Is there away to edit a reunion notice to add/change information?

Yes there is. Login as the site admin. Under the Manage Site section, click the down arrow for Type and select Reunion. Then click the Search button to list the reunions in the database. In the listing, one of the options is to Edit. Click the link and add any additional details or changes you desire and Save. Users who submitted a reunion can simply login as themselves, find the reunion they submitted and click the Edit link when they view the reunion.

How does a former mission president register on the alumni site?

This is an easy task, but one that must be done by the webmaster when creating an account for a mission president.

  1. Login as admin
  2. Click on Presidents Info
  3. Click on Add President
  4. Fill in the blanks
  5. Click the Add button
  6. Go back to Presidents Info link
  7. Edit the profile of the mission president
  8. Enter an easy password for him to remember (at least 6 characters long)
  9. Enter any Bio information you want in the comments section
  10. Click the Submit button at the bottom.
  11. Test out the login to make sure it works.
  12. Send a seperate email to the president with his username, password and URL to his profile.

How do I delete (or edit) a profile (or story/news/message/photo/etc.)?

Go to the "View Records" utility (Admin -> View Records) and select the corresponding type of record and enter identifying information (if applicable). When you click the "View Records" button, a list will be generated with a "Edit" and "Delete" link to the right. Use those links to accomplish what you want.

You can delete or edit any item in the database by following this procedure:

  1. Log in to the admin module of your SIB site. You should be on the Manage Site tab, Manage Postings sub tab.
  2. In the Type drop-down selector, choose the item type you are searching for, or select "All Auth".
    1. If you want to search for items that are not marked "live", check the box next to "Inactive Only."
    2. If you want to search for expired items, check the box next to "Expired". Current Missionary profiles expire when their mission end date has passed. Reunions expire when the reunion date has passed. Searching for any other type of item is not affected by this feature.
  3. Enter any of the following search limiters, if desired:
    1. Name. If you know the name of the person who created the item (or whose profile you are searching for), you can enter it in this box. You can enter partial names to get matches; this is especially helpful if you don't know the exact spelling of somebody's name. (For example, if you don't know if you are search for a Peterson or a Petersen, Just enter Peters in the name box.
    2. E-mail. If you know the e-mail address of the person who created this item (meaning, the address the person entered into the e-mail field of the form), you can enter it here. You can enter partial addresses to get matches.
    3. ID. If you know the item ID of the item you are looking for, you can enter it here.
    4. If you leave all the above blank, your search results will contain all items for the type selected in the drop-down box.
  4. Click Search. A list of pictures matching your search terms is displayed.
  5. In the results table, perform the action you desire
    1. To retain the item in the database, but make it not available on the public website, click the Live link.
    2. To edit the item, click the Edit link.
    3. (For alumni/current/president/friend profiles only) To reset the user's password, and resend a new password to the user, click the Pass link.
    4. To remove the item permanently from the database, click the Delete link.

What if a user forgets his or her login or password?

If one of your users forgets his or her username or password, you can retrieve it using the following procedure:

  1. Log in to your SIB dashboard using your admin login.
  2. Verify that you are on the Manage Site tab, Manage Posting subtab.
  3. In the Search area, enter your search parameters.
    1. If you know the record type (Alumni, Current, etc.) select it from the drop-down selector. If you don't know the record type, use the drop-down selector to select "All Auth".
    2. Enter information into one or more of the following fields (the search will search for records that match ALL the information you enter, so if you don't find the record you're looking for, try entering LESS information. This will broaden your search).
      • Name (partial name ok)
      • Email address (partial email ok)
      • ID (if you are searching for a particular record; chances are you won't know this)
  4. Click the Search button. Matching results are found.
  5. Find the record you want from the search results.
    • If the PASS link is active, you can simply click the PASS link to reset the user's password, and send an e-mail with the user's username and temporary password to the e-mail address associated with the account. If you want to verify the users e-mail address before sending the message, click the Edit link first, check the password, Save the profile, and then click the PASS link for the profile.
    • If the PASS link is NOT active, click the Edit link for that record, update the e-mail address associated with the account (based on the e-mail request received from the user), and save the record. You will be returned to the search results screen. The PASS link will now be active. Click it to reset the user's password, and send an e-mail with the user's username and temporary password to the e-mail address you just associated with the account.

The user will receive their username and temporary password, with which they can log into the system.

If users are haveing a hard time with the temporary password, you can opt to edit the user's profile, and change their password for them, to something easier to remember. This method is not the preferred method, as the password is less secure than the randomly generated password, or the user's own password.

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