In SmartSimple terminology we refer to the “thing to be tracked” as the Level 1 entity and you give this entity the name that represents what it really is, such as a case or a support ticket.
Exercise – Defining the “Thing to be Tracked”
Using the following tracking examples, indicate what the “thing to be tracked” should be:
Application “Thing to be tracked” Hint
Sales Tracking “It’s a big deal”
Project Tracking
Training Tracking “When are you going on the course?”
Grant Management
Entity and Instance
You can create any number of Level 1 instances from the Level 1 entity that you define. So once you define “the thing to be tracked” as a case, you create any number of cases based on that definition.
Once you have identified the Level 1 entity you will need to consider the following items:
What information will you need to gather about the entity?
To gather the information you need, the Level 1 entity is configured with:
• Fields chosen from a set of standard fields built into the UTA. The fields you choose are attached to all the Level 1 items that you create.
• Custom fields that you define for the Level 1 entity. You can add as many fields as you need from the 40+ custom field types built into the SmartSimple platform.
• A set of statuses that you use to define, filter and select items based on their status.
Are all Level 1 Items exactly the same?
It is quite common that when you determine the Level 1 entity you will realize that they are not all exactly the same, and that you will need to track different information for each type.
For example, if you are thinking about legal case management you would need to clearly delineate between a civil and a criminal case, or perhaps between a business and domestic case. The method that you use to separate the Level 1 entity by type is entirely up to you.
You handle these differences by using what SmartSimple calls Level 1 Templates.
Exercise – Defining the Types of Things to be Tracked
Using the following tracking examples, indicate what the “thing to be tracked” should be:
Application Types Hint
Sales Tracking Assume you are selling insurance.
Project Tracking Assume you are an engineering company.
Training Tracking Assume you teach office skills.
Grant Management Assume you give grants to students.
Do you need to track the activities around the Level 1 Entity?
You generally need to track activities around the “thing to be tracked”. If you don’t need to track activities then you will not need to enable Level 2 in the UTA.
But if you are tracking cases, you will probably need to track the activities and the time spent on the case. These types of activities are represented within the UTA as Level 2 and Level 3 items. Level 2 and Level 3 entities are broadly similar to a Level 1 entity in that you configure these entities with:
• Fields chosen from a set of standard fields built into the UTA. The fields you choose are attached to all the Level 2 (or 3) items that you create. You will see these fields are activity type fields including start and end times, follow up and reminder settings.
• Custom fields that you define for the Level 2 (or 3) entity. As with Level 1, you can add as many fields as you need.
• A set of statuses that you use to define, filter and select items based on their status.
These activity items are linked to the associated Level 1.
You can create any number of Level 2 items for a single Level 1 item.
Are there different types of Activities?
As with Level 1, you may need to track different types of activities at Level 2. For example, in the case management instance you may need to delineate meetings from phone calls. Or in the case of legal work, court time verses office time. As with Level 1, you handle these differences by using what SmartSimple calls Level 2 types.
• Each Level 2 type represents a different type activity.
• Each type can also have a set of custom fields.
Exercise – Defining the Types of Activities to be Tracked
Using the following tracking examples, indicate what the “thing to be tracked” should be:
Application Types Hint
Sales Tracking What types of activities make up a sales
process?
Project Tracking What kinds of tasks would exist in an
engineering project?
Training Tracking If the course is the Level 1 item, what would be Level 2?
Grant Management What steps need to happen to approve a
grant application?
Need Activities within Level 2?
The final entity level within the UTA is called Level 3. This level functions in exactly the same manner as Level 2 and is used to control finer levels in information gathering – if required.
For example, if Level 1 is a case, and Level 2 is a report, then the Level 3 items could be defined as research, drafting, proofing, presenting and billing. And as with all the other entities, the structure you define is entirely up to you.
These second level activity items are linked to the associated Level 2. You can create any number of Level 3 items for a single Level 2 item.
General Notes before you begin
There is no requirement to use all three levels, and in many cases you may be able to build a very useful application with Level 1 only.
In order to create a Universal Tracking Application you will need access to the
Configuration, Tracking Applications menu. If you do not have access to this menu, contact your System Administrator.
Example Used in the Workbook
In this workbook you will build a UTA capable of managing contracts of various types. The application will need to deal with the following scenario:
• The company sells enterprise software, as a service or as an outright sale. Two different types of sales contracts will be required to represent the two models.
• The company also provides a service contract to customers that purchase the software.
• For potential customers that need to review the operation of the system in-depth, the company provides a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA).
What is the thing to be tracked?
List the number of templates you will need to create
List the names of the templates
Each contract type will require its own set of activities (Level 2 items). Which activity types do you envisage for each contract?
Contract Type Activity Type(s) (Level 2)
Each Contract Types will require statuses. Which statuses do you envisage for use across all templates?
Template Status
Other than defining the standard and custom fields required for ALL contracts and the specific fields required for particular templates, you can now start to create the Contract Tracking application.
Sometimes you need to carefully think it through the model
Some applications of the UTA are less obvious than others.• For example, one client successfully manages a chain of daycare centres across the country. The Level 1 entity proved to be the actual centre (linked to the internal branch as the location) and the Level 2 activity; a single child attendance record at a specific centre.
The child is assigned to the Level 2 activity.
• Another client needed to manage collections of giftware purchased overseas, and provide access to the overseas manufacturers. In this instance, the collection was the Level 1 entity and the collection item was the Level 2 entity. In this case none of the activity related fields were used at Level 2.
• An Animal shelter needed to track stray animals collected at the centre. The Level 1 entity became the animal; the Level 1 template represented the type of animal (cat, dog, etc). The Level 2 activities tracked the inspection, vaccination and adoption of the animal.
Sometimes the UTA will NOT work
The Universal Tracking application was not designed to replace functionality that exists in other readily available programs. So don’t try to configure the UTA for the following type of use:
• Traditional Project Management – though you could set up a pseudo project management system, it will lack a lot of basic functionality such as “N” level tasks, automatic roll-up of effort and cost, critical path management, resource allocation and management, and baseline budget.
Module 3: Creating a Universal Tracking Application Creating a Universal Tracking Application
Objectives
Upon completion of this module you will be able to:
• Create a Level 1 Universal Tracking application.
• Define the application terminology.
• Choose the fields required for the Level 1 item.
• Review the basic application.
Getting Started
In this module, you will start to create your Contract Tracking application. Initially, this application will use Level 1 items only, but in the next module you will add the activity types.
1. Click the Configuration, Tracking Applications menu.
The Tracking Applications window is displayed. Currently there are no applications created.
Generally, this list will display the name of the application, the name as it appears in the menu bar, and the description that you define for the application.
2. Click the New Application tab.
The New Application window is displayed.
This page is used to set many characteristics for the new application and is divided into 13 sections.
• Terminology Settings – defines the object names to be used throughout the application for Level 1, 2 and 3 entities.
• Application Settings – controls the overall functioning of the application.
• Security Settings – controls the overall application security.
• Connectivity Setting – controls the applications interaction with other Universal Tracking applications and other services.
• Transaction Type Setting – controls the types of transactions that can be used within the applications.
• Access Role Settings – defines the roles of the user that can access the application.
• Contact Assignment Role Settings – determines the roles that contacts can “play’ in a specific Level 1 entity.
• Account Assignment Role Settings – determines the roles that organisations can “play” in a specific Level 1 entity.
• Standard Contact Lookup Role Settings – defined the roles that can be accessed in the contact section.
• Account Lookup Category Settings – defined the categories of organisations that can be accessed in the organisation section.
• Account and Contact Settings – defines the relationship between Level 1 and Level 2 items in other parts of SmartSimple, such as the account screen and the contact screen.
• Workflow & Calendar Settings – defines the fields to be used in workflow messages and calendars.
• Publication Service Settings – Connects Level 2 items to external web services, such as publication databases.
Application Settings
• Enable Level 2 Activities – Specifies that the Level 1 entity should have Level 2 items.
• Enable Level 3 Activities – Specifies that each Level 2 item should have Level 3 items.
• Enable Personal Transactions – Specifies that user-based personal transactions can be associated with the Level 1 item. This feature is generally only used when a person’s activity, such as a certification or a degree, needs to be attributed back to a grant.
• Enable Security Matrix – Specifies that comprehensive security control is required within the application.
• Is Shadow Application – Specifies that this application is really linked to another UTA.
Generally, this technique is used to create the same application in more than one language (as the standard and custom fields can be labeled differently), or to restrict functionality to a group of users.
• Enable Data Exchange – Specifies that a Level 1 item can be exchanged with other copies of SmartSimple. This feature is used when creating an intra-organisational case management system.
• Allow External Owner – Specified that the owner of a Level 1 item can be an external contact – rather than an internal user.
• Inherit Locking – Specified that level 2 and level 3 items should be locked and cannot be changed when the level 1 item is at a “locked” status. You can also control this type of locking by using locking triggers that will be reviewed in a later module.
• Menu Name – The name you wish to display in the left navigation panel within SmartSimple.
Terminology Settings
The terminology settings control the labels that you wish to associate with Level 1, 2, and 3 items as well as the name of the application as displayed on the menu and in the title bar.
Once these items are set the application, including the configuration page, will be relabeled.
Exercise – Terminology Settings
1. Set the terminology as shown below:2. Click any of the Save buttons.
Exercise – Defining Application Settings
Enabling the Level 2 activities changes the Configuration screen layout and adds a section for defining these activities.
1. Set the Enable Activities check box on the Application Settings.
Once you save these basic settings the configuration page will display the Level 1, Level 2 (and Level 3, if enabled) entity settings.
2. Click any of the Save buttons.
Level 1 Entity Settings
1. Scroll to the Contract Settings section.
The Level 1 entity will consist of:
• Standard fields relabeled to suit the application.
• Custom fields that will be associated with all Level 1 items.
• An optional Calendar to display the Level 2 activities associated with the Level 1 item.
• An optional Reader Log that will track every time a user displays the Level 1 item and the amount of time that they reviewed that item.
This is a privacy audit feature that can be enabled in sensitive applications. The user will not be aware of the item. This feature is used in conjunction with the Manager Permission – View Reader Log. This permission will be reviewed in a later module.
Exercise – Enabling Level 1 Entity Settings
1. Click the Enable Calendar check box.2. Click the Enable Reader Log.
3. Click any of the Save buttons.
You will define the standard and custom fields for the Level 1 entity in the next module of the course.
Level 2 Entity Settings
1. Scroll to the Activity Settings section.
The Level 2 entity will consist of:
• Standard fields relabeled to suit the application.
• Custom fields that will be associated with all Level 1 items.
• Inherit Custom Fields – Provides the ability to create Level 2 item custom fields that are only available based on the selected Level 1 template.
• An optional Reader Log that will track every time a user displays the Level 2 item and the amount of time that they review that item. This is a privacy audit feature that can be enabled in sensitive applications. The user will not be aware of the item. This feature is used in conjunction with the Manager Permission – View Reader Log. This permission will be enabled in a later module.
Multiple Accounts and Contract per Level 2
You have the options or associating multiple contacts by role and organisations by category associated with each Level 2 item. These features are enabled though the Use Multiple features.
Maximum Contacts per Level 2
You can also restrict the number of people associated with each level 2.
Zero indicates that any number of contacts can be assigned.
Exercise – Enabling Level 2 Entity Settings
1. Click the Level 1 Contact Assignment check box.2. Click the Enable Reader Log.
3. Click any of the Save buttons.
You will define the standard and custom fields for the Level 2 entity in the next module of the course.
Access Role Settings
You use the Access Role settings to select the user roles that you wish to access the application. All user roles defined within the system will be displayed in this area.
The list of roles will vary depending on the number of roles previously defined in the system.
Unlike the built-in SmartSimple applications, the UTA only uses roles to control overall access to the application, and does not use hierarchical security of other parts of the system.
If you wish to give a role access to the application, but also control what they can do, you can use the security matrix and/or field level security and/or a shadow application to control access.
Exercise – Enabling Access Roles
1. Choose the roles that you wish to have access to the application.
2. Click any of the Save buttons.
Contact Assignment Role Settings
Contact Assignment Role Settings determine the roles that can be assigned to people participating within a Level 1 entity.
You may sometimes need to add additional roles to your copy of SmartSimple specifically to reflect people’s engagement with these types of entities. For example, giving someone the role of Reviewer may only make sense in the context of a Level 1 entity that requires a review process.
Exercise – Enabling Contact Assignment Role Setting
1. Choose the roles that you wish to use when assigning a contact to a Level 1 entity.
2. Click any of the Save buttons.
Account Assignment Role Settings
In a similar manner to the Contact Assignment Role Settings, the Account Assignment Role Settings determine the roles that can be assigned to organisations participating within a Level 1 entity. For example, a company may play the role of sponsoring organisation in a given Level 1
The number of account roles will depend on the number previously defined in the system.
These Account Roles are created using the Configuration, Roles & Permissions menu, Company Roles settings.
Company roles are only applicable within the Universal Tracking application and should not be confused with Account Categories – the standard method for categorizing companies.
Exercise – Enabling Account Assignment Role Settings
1. Choose the roles that you wish to use when assigning an organisation to a Level 1 entity.
2. Click any of the Save buttons.
Account and Contact Settings
The account and contact settings are used to determine if the Level 1 or Level 2 items should be available in other areas of SmartSimple, or only available within the Universal Tracking applications.
Exercise – Enabling Account & Contact Settings
1. Review the settings available and the following settings for your application:
Setting Implication for Contract Tracking
Enable Level 1 on Account New menu. User can review account screen and choose New Contract from the New Menu.
Enable Level 2 Activity tab on the Contact Profile.
User can review any activities associated with the use on their profile.
Enable Level 1 on Item Tab on Contact Profile
User can review any Level 1 items associated wit the user on their profile.
2. Click any of the Save buttons.
Though not applicable in this UTA, many of these options are frequently used in other applications that are created.
Publication Service Settings
This feature is only used in specific settings, such as research and innovation management.
1. Click any of the Save buttons.
2. Review the Configuration page.
All references to Level 1 have been replaced with Contract, and Level 2 references with Activity.
Field Settings
The field settings control the display of fields in two areas:
• The fields from the application that should be displayed in the Workflow List
(Communications, Workflow requests menu). This feature is only relevant if you attach a workflow to your application.
• The fields from the activity (Level 2) that should be displayed on the contact’s calendar from the activity. This feature is only applicable if you enable the “Enable Activity on Contact Calendar” check box in the Account & Contact settings.
Exercise – Setting Application Permissions
The application now exists, but without the key components that will be required to make it operate successfully – Level 1 standard and custom fields, Level 1 templates and statuses.
1. Click the Configuration, Tracking Application menu.
2. Refresh or reload your browser.
The application is displayed in the Applications menu.
The application is displayed in the Applications menu.