Administration

Import Name and Address

The Import Name and Address function allows you to create new Logs in CLIFF from names and addresses keyed outside of CLIFF. The file to import must be a text file in standard ASCII format using the TAB (ASCII 9) character as field delimiters and Carriage Return (ASCII 13) as record delimiter. CLIFF will not import data in Excel or Word format.
The order of the fields imported is as follows:

Salutation
Last Name
First Name
Title
Company
Address 1
Address 2
City
Province/State
Country
Postal Code/ZIP
Phone
Fax
Date Received
Date Written
Batch

NOTE: If any field is blank, the TAB delimiter must still be included.

To import names and addresses

Choose Import Name and Address from the Administration menu. A window is displayed for you to select the file to import.
Follow the instructions in the window to select the file to import and click Import.

The file is imported into CLIFF. For every record in the import file, a new Log will be created.

Audit Trail

CLIFF maintains two audit trails: the Log Audit Trail which tracks changes to individual Logs; and the database Audit Trail which tracks some of the major events in the database, for example deleting Logs.
You may track deletion of Logs and Referrals in CLIFF by enabling the appropriate Application Preferences. (See Log Preferences and Referral Preferences). If the Audit Trail is activated, CLIFF will generate an Audit Trail record for every Log and/or Referral deleted.

To View the Audit Trail

Choose Audit Trail in the Administration menu. A sorted list of audit records will be displayed showing:

Date and time of action;
Action performed;
ID of record on which the action was performed;
User Account that performed the action; and
The workstation from which the action was initiated.

To Search the Audit Trail

Enter the search criteria at the top of the window:

Click Search.

CLIFF Usage

The CLIFF Usage function allows you to monitor the usage of CLIFF in your organization. From the Usage window you may determine the following:

Total number of Logs in the database for all offices;

Total number of Referrals in the database for all offices;

Total number of Archived Logs in the database;

The level of fragmentation for Logs and Referrals.

Number of CLIFF licenses installed;

Number of CLIFF accounts defined;

Number of server processes running;

Who is currently logged in to CLIFF; the name on the server; and their login date;

Who is currently accessing restricted functions such as Table Maintenance;

The last time every user logged on

To display the Usage window
$image\ONESTEP.gif$ Choose CLIFF Usage in the Administration menu.
CLIFF produces a report with the following information:

Database statistics - Number of Logs and their level of fragmentation*; number of Referrals and their level of fragmentation*; number of archived Logs; number of CLIFF licenses, number of CLIFF accounts defined; number of users currently logged in to CLIFF.
Users Currently logged in to CLIFF;
Other user accounts not currently logged in to CLIFF.

Account Information

For each CLIFF Account the following information is displayed:

Account Name - the account name is also a link to the Audit Trail report which will list all the audit entries for that account.
IP - The IP address of the user is displayed. Note that if your organization is using a proxy server, everybody will have the same IP address.
Curr Login - The date the user logged in. This date should only show if for users currently logged in. If there are Current Login Dates for users not currently logged in, that means they did not logout of CLIFF. Possible reasons are their session timed out, they quit their web browser without first logging out of CLIFF, their computer crashed, etc.
Time - the time of the Current Login.
Prev Login - The previous or last time the user logged into CLIFF.
Updating - Any restricted functions the account is currently accessing.
Client - This will contain the browser type and version, for example 'MSIE 6.0'.
OS - The operating system the user is using.

*Fragmentation

When you delete Logs and Referrals in the CLIFF database, empty storage areas are created. As you add new Logs and Referrals, CLIFF tries to reuse the space left by deleted records. It cannot reuse the space if the new record is bigger than the space left by the deleted record. Over time the database becomes fragmented with pockets of empty storage space. If the database becomes severely fragmented (more than 5%) performance may degrade and it is recommended that you compress the database. Ask your system administrator to compress the database if necessary.

Replace Value

The Replace Value function allows you to make global changes to several Logs at one time. This is very useful if you have to make the same entry into a number of Logs, for example setting the Sign By. The Replace Value function is very powerful and should only be used if you have a good understanding of CLIFF. You should not use it to perform tasks for which dedicated CLIFF functions are provided, for example closing a selection of Logs, adding Logs to a Batch, or renaming offices. Replace Value does rudimentary edits of each Log that is changed to ensure that the content is still valid, for example Date Received is less than Date Completed, but it does not provide comprehensive editing that the dedicated tasks perform.

Note that Replace Value only works on Logs. Referrals for changed Logs are not touched.

Normally only CLIFF Administrators should have access to Replace Value.

To Replace a Value in a selection of Logs

Select or Mark the Logs you wish to change

Choose Replace Value from the Administration menu. The following window is displayed.

Enter the data into the appropriate fields that you want changed in the selected Logs. To remove the contents of a field enter "@" (without the quotes). For checkbox fields click N to remove, Y to enter, or leave unchecked if no change is to be applied.

Click Change.

Depending on the size of the selection, the processing could take awhile. When complete, the window will be updated to show the number of Logs changed and any errors encountered.

Events

CLIFF allows you to schedule reports and other events to run on a regular basis, for example run a report every Sunday night on overdue Referrals.

To Create an Event

Choose Events from the Admin menu. A window with current events similar to the following will be displayed. Events high-lighted with red are OFF.
Click New Event to display the following form.
Enter the event specifications as follows:
- Event - Select the type of event to create. Report to generate an e-mail report, or Force Logout if you need to force people to log out of CLIFF while you perform some maintenance.
- User - The user account this event is to be run against. Currently this is only for the Force Logout event. Enter 'ALL' if to be applied to all users.
- Schedule - When the event should be executed.
  - Off - the event is currently turned off and will not execute.
  - Daily - The hour (24 hour clock) that the event should be run every day.
  - Weekly - The day of the week and hour that the event should be run every week. If the event has to run more than once a week, additional events will have to be created.
  - Monthly - The date and hour that the event should be run every week. If the event has to run more than once a month, additional events will have to be created.
  - Only execute once - The event will run on the scheduled time and then switch to Off. If you don't enter a schedule it will execute right away. If this is a Force Logout event, the number of seconds warning will be added.
  - Execute as soon as possible - the event will run almost immediately, and then switch to the specified schedule. The warning time is ignored for this option.
- Notification
  - Send Message - CLIFF username of person that should receive notification that the event has executed.
  - Send E-mail - the e-mail of the person the report should be sent to. You may enter an e-mail address, the user name of another CLIFF user, or an Office name.
- Force Logout Settings
  - Number of seconds of warning - how much time in seconds the user should be warned before they are logged out. You should give them time to save their work as the forced logout will not save work in progress for individual users.
  - Optional Message - Message to be displayed in users' CLIFF window. Normally you would tell them why they are being forced out, and how long it will be before they can log back in. The message will be shown near the top as shown in the following example:
  - Logout Admin users - If you are an Administrator and want access to CLIFF after this event has run, DO NOT CHECK THIS BOX otherwise you will be logged out and not be able to log back in to CLIFF.
    
    A Forced Logout remains in effect until the event is deleted!
    
    Users will not be allowed to log in to CLIFF while a Force Logout is in effect. This gives you time to do your maintenance work. When you are ready to let people log in again, delete the Force Logout event.
- Report Settings - The reports you can schedule. Choose report from drop down list. In most cases you will also have to select an Office from the accompanying list.
  - Logs Overdue for Office - select office this report applies to.
  - Logs Eligible for Completion for Office - select office this report applies to.
  - Referrals Received by Office - select office this report applies to.
  - Overdue Referrals - select office this report applies to.
- Event Log - Log of when this event was executed.
Click Save to save you event.

To Delete an Event

Choose Events from the Admin menu. A window with currents similar to the following will be displayed.
Click the icon for the event to delete.

Application Preferences

You may configure CLIFF to meet your organization's needs and office procedures. The preferences set in Application Preferences apply to all users of the organization. The preferences for individual users of CLIFF may be set in User Accounts.

Note that changing the Application Preferences while other users are logged in could affect their access to CLIFF. It is always advisable to only change the Application Preferences when other users are not logged in to CLIFF. If users are logged in, they may have to log out, and then log back in for changes to take affect.

To Set the Application Preferences

Choose Application Preferences from the Administration menu. The following window is displayed.

Select the group of preferences you wish to change by clicking on the group in the scrolling list on the left.

Make changes as appropriate for the group and click Save.

When all changes are completed, click Close to close the window.

NOTE: in most cases, users will not see the changes until the next time they log into CLIFF.

Appearance

Version 5.2

The default colors for the Log and Referral forms may be changed. Global changes may be applied through the Application Preferences, or individually through the User Preferences. See User Prefs for details on setting colors.

The color setting defined in Application Preferences becomes the default for the organization. Individuals may over-ride this setting in their User Preferences.

Dates

Use Working Days Calculation: If on, CLIFF will calculate due dates based on working days instead of Calendar days. Working days are assumed to be Monday to Friday. If not on, then due dates will be calculated based on a 7 day week.

Date Format: This is the format in which dates will be displayed and entered in CLIFF. You may change the format at any time (it's recommended you only do this when all users are logged off) and CLIFF will automatically use the new format for display and entry. Note that any dates already entered with Date stamps into text fields will not change if the format is changed.

Fiscal Year End: For some reports CLIFF allows you to search for data based on your fiscal year. Enter your organization’s fiscal year to ensure these searches are performed correctly.

Include Office Name in Date Stamp: If on, the user’s current office is automatically entered as part of the Date Stamp.

Email Options

Allow Logs and Attachments to be emailed: If this is not checked, Logs and their attachments will not be included in emails sent from CLIFF
Email links are valied for a maximum of n calendar days: Temporary web pages Logs created by CLIFF will expire after the specified number of days

General

Title

Enter the name to be displayed in window titles and standard reports.

Log Exchange

When accepting external Referrals from another organization, or generating Logs from a Web form, you may define a default template to apply.

Select the appropriate Template from the drop-down lists.

Click the checkbox if Log Notes should be included when you send Referrals to other CLIFF organizations.

Enter the email address of the person to be notified when an exchange Log is received.

Log Info Fields

If you are using Information Tags, you must specify which Log fields are to recognize the tags. Check all the fields that apply.

Log Locked Fields

Locked Log Fields: Select the fields that will be locked to updates by offices other than the owner of the Log.

Log Options

Automatically convert Last Name to all capital letters

Select this option to have CLIFF automatically convert a last name to upper case when entered in the Log.

Automatically Date Stamp additions to Notes

Select this option to have a date stamp automatically appended to the Notes when opened. If the Notes window is closed without any changes the date stamp is not saved.

Log Security

Allow Confidential Logs to be created

Select this option if users are allowed to create confidential Logs.

New Logs should default to Confidential

If on, any new Log created will automatically be set to Confidential.

Allow update to Log if Office is on Referral List

Normally only the Office that created the Log is permitted to update the Log. If you also wish Offices in the Referral list to be able to update the Log information, set this preference on. Note that you may lock fields from updating.

Maintain audit trail of deleted Logs

If checked, an audit trail record will be created every time a Log is deleted.

Number of Days in Grace Period for closed logs

Normally, Logs cannot be changed once they have been completed. However, CLIFF allows you to assign a grace period in which completed Logs may be changed. Enter the number of days for which the Grace Period applies.

Mandatory Fields

Mandatory Fields:

Select fields that are mandatory in the Log and the Referral. Note that Date Received is always mandatory.

Postal Code Lookup

If you use CLIFF's postal code lookup function, CLIFF will automatically assign related data to any of the six user-defined popup fields. If your postal code files have related data, the name of the related data will appear in the pop-up lists. Just select the related data you want loaded for the associated user defined pop-up field.

NOTE: The next time you log in to CLIFF, the tables associated with the user defined pop-up fields for which you selected related data will be automatically refreshed from the postal code files.

Referral Preferences

Default Sending Office: Scenario:
Office A enters a Log and shares it with Office B. Office B subsequently creates a Referral for the Log to another office. If you want the Referral to appear as if it was created by Office A, then select Owner of Log as the default sending office. If the Referral is to appear as being sent by Office B, then select Shared Office as the default sending office.

Warn if Referral Due Date is after Log Due Date: CLIFF will not allow you to set a Referral’s
Due Date to after its Log’s Due Date. If it is, the Referral Due Date is automatically set to the Log’s Due Date. Select this option if you want a message displayed warning the user that the date has been reset.

Maintain Audit Trail of deleted Referrals:
If checked, an Audit Trail record is created for every deleted Referral.

Response Turnaround

Version 5.2.18

Turnaround Reporting depends on user defined fields for the following purposes:

Summary Field - the pivotal field for which the reports are to be generated. This can be "Addressed To", "Topic", or any other category for which you want to report turnaround times on.
Sign Date Field - the total response time is calculated using the Log's Received Date and the Date the response was signed or sent.
Interim Date Field - if you send interim responses, you can separate response times for these Logs from others. The Interim date is not used in calculations.

Set the Turnaround Reporting options as follows:

Perform Turnaround Reporting - toggle reports on/off.
Summary Field - choose which field to base reports on.
Summary Values to report on - select which summary values you want to generate reports for. Note that there will be a report for each selected value.
Sign Date Field - date field to use for calculation of total response time.
Interim Date field - date field used for interim dates. Date is not used for calculation.
Reporting Period - choose the reporting period.
Start Date - date to start calculating response times.
Reports expire after - the number of reporting periods after which CLIFF can automatically delete reports.
Log Days Title - Column title to display for the time between receiving the Log and starting the response preparation.
Referral Days Title - Column title to display for the time preparing the response.
Performance breakdown - specify the groupings for the breakdown of performance reporting. For example, less than 14 days, greater than 28 days would provide counts for number of logs with a response time of 14 and less days, a response time of 15 to 28 days, and more than 28 days.

UDF Relationships

Version 5.2

You may define a Parent-Child dependency between User Define fields such that selection from one list defines a subset for another. Or vice versa, selection from a list will automatically populate another field. For example, a Parent field could be your company sales regions, with the Child field being your sales representatives. Entering a sales region would limit the selection options for sales representatives, only showing the ones that work in the selected reqion. Likewise, choosing a sales representative would automatically enter his or her sales reqion.

To Define Field Relationship

Choose a Parent from the One column.
Choose a Child from the Many column. You may define up to three relationships.
Click Save

To Define Lookup Tables

Create your "parent" table as you would for a normal table lookup.
Create your "child" table. When entering your table values for the "child" table you will have the option of selecting the associated "parent" value as shown below.

User Defined Fields

CLIFF provides several data fields in the Log for which you may define their name and usage. The type of data you may store in each data field, the properties of each field, and any special processing associated with each field is as follows:

Text Fields: 80 character alpha-numeric data. Each of these fields is automatically keyword indexed. Each field is supported by a popup list defined in Table Maintenance.

Date Fields: Date fields that support all of CLIFF's date functionality.

Check Box Fields: Check box fields that may store simple Boolean values of TRUE or FALSE. These fields may be automatically populated by the Search for Special Authors function.

Table Fields: 40 character alpha-numeric data. Each table field is supported by a popup list defined in Table Maintenance. To force selection from the popup list click the check box after the appropriate field. These fields may be automatically populated by the Postal Code lookup function.

You may set the labels for each of the fields:

Field names: Enter labels for user defined fields.
Force Selection From Table: If on, only data from the associated table will be allowed in the data field.
Location Prompts: Choose the default display for Postal Codes.

User Accounts

Access to CLIFF is controlled through user accounts. Before a person can sign in to CLIFF they must have a valid user name and password. The account information for a user defines what CLIFF functions they may access, their level of authority, and what Office(s) they belong to.

CLIFF has a few special accounts that you should be aware of:

ADMINISTRATOR - This is a permanent account which is used for initial set-up of CLIFF. The ADMINISTRATOR account is the highest level of security in your Organization and provides full access to all functions and data in your Organization. This account should be used as a controlling account and not be used for day to day activities in CLIFF. You may assign administrator privileges to individual accounts as required.
DEFAULT - This account defines the default configuration for new user accounts. You may customize the DEFAULT account with your organization's typical user configuration except for the user name, initials, and password.

Create Account

Updated in Version 5.2

To Create a User Account

Choose User Accounts from the Administration menu. The following window is displayed.
If the account you want to create is similar to an existing account, click the duplicate button for that account.
OR
Click New Accont to create a duplicate of the DEFAULT account.
The new account is created and displayed in a form similar to the following.
Enter the data fields as follows:
- Enter a unique User Name for the account.
- Enter the Password for the account. The user may change their password as required through the user preferences. You must enter a password at least as long as the minimum required. If your form does not show the Password field, passwords are managed outside of CLIFF for your Organization.

If this account requires Administrator access to view the CLIFF usage, or all confidential Logs, then select this option.

Enabled You may enable or disable an account until you are ready to implement its use by simply clicking the checkbox.

Password error count The number of times the user may enter an invalid password before the account is disabled. If your form does not show the field, passwords are managed outside of CLIFF for your Organization.

Enter the user's information such as name, email account and phone. If initials are to be used for date stamping then the user's initials must be entered.

Email Account If the user is to be allowed to send email from CLIFF, a valid email account must be entered.

Timeout CLIFF has a default timeout for every connected user. If the user needs a different timeout -- shorter or longer -- than the default, enter it here in minutes.

Before setting the Default Office, select the offices the user will have access to. Select offices from the Available Offices list and use the arrow buttons to move offices to Offices User may Access. Note that only offices that have not been assigned are shown in the Available Offices list.

The Default Office is the office that the user starts in when Signing in to CLIFF. The user may change the setting through the user preferences.

Function Access - You may selectively give the user access to special functions in CLIFF by clicking the appropriate check boxes.

Distribution Lists - allowed to create Distribution Lists.
User Maint - allowed to access the User Maintenance.
App Preferences - allowed to access the Application Preferences
Table Maint - allowed to access the lookup tables for pop-up selection lists
Import Data - allowed to import Logs into CLIFF. Note that this is different than importing attachments to a Log.
Send Email - allowed to send email. Note that a valid email account must be entered for this option to be accepted.
Statistic Report - allowed to run statistical analysis reports.
Duplicate Log - allowed to duplicate Logs.

Data Access - You may specify what data the user may access.

Closed Log - allowed to update a Closed Log that is outside the grace period.
Delete Referrals - allowed to delete Referrals
Delete Logs - allowed to delete Logs
Exchange Logs - allowed to accept Logs from other CLIFF Organizations or web forms.
Audit Trail - allowed to access the audit trail. Note that this is different than the Log audit trail.
Replace Value - allowed to access Replace Value
Restricted - only allowed to access their default office
Read Only - no update access to any CLIFF data

Preferences - The default preferences to be assigned to the account.

Template - the default template
Default Sorts - the sorts to always be applied
Auto new Log - automatically open a new blank Log when saving a new Log.
Confirm Deletions - present a confirmation dialog whenever deleting a Log or Referral
Do Duplicate Search - set the default to automatically do a Duplicate Log search when entering new Logs. Note that the user may toggle this on and off as required from the Log input form.
Active Period - specify the number of days in the user's Active period.
recs per page - the number of records to display per page when listing Logs or Referrals.
length fields - the number of characters to be displayed in the list screens for the specified fields.

Click Save.

Managing Accounts

The user accounts in your Organization are managed through the User Accounts list which gives you access to creating, modifying, and deleting accounts.

To Open the User Accounts window

Choose User Accounts from the Administration menu. The following window is displayed.

Depending on the number of users defined, CLIFF will show all the users at once or break down the list based on the first letter of the user's last name. Clicking on the letters of the alphabet at the top of the window, users with a last name starting with the clicked letter will be displayed. You may also sort the list by Account or Last Name by clicking the appropriate choice at the top of the window.

To Create a New User Account

See Create Account for instructions.

To Modify a User Account

Open the User Accounts window if not already open.
Click on the user account to be changed.
Modify the data fields as required. See Create Account for information on setting user account options.

To Duplicate User Account

Open the User Accounts window if not already open.
Click the button for the user account to duplicate. A new account with exactly the same settings will be created. Note that you cannot duplicate the ADMINISTRATOR and DEFAULT accounts.

To Export User Accounts

Open the User Accounts window if not already open.

Click the Export link in the top right hand corner.

Depending on the web browser you are using, you will be prompted to confirm the download. Click the appropriate button to confirm the download. A file names users.txt should be in your download directory.

To Import User Accounts

Open the User Accounts window if not already open.

Click the Import link in the top right hand corner. The following form will be displayed.

Click the Browse button to select the file to import.

Enter the password to be assigned to the imported accounts.

Click Import

To Delete a User Account

Open the User Accounts window if not already open.
Click the button for the user account to delete. Note that you cannot delete the ADMINISTRATOR and DEFAULT accounts.