Accessing the AssetNow NX Tools
AssetNow NX is a Content Management System used to publish and access information on the Internet, intranets and extranets.
AssetNow NX is installed on a web server and formats and displays web pages to site visitors. Using web browser-based tools you create and manage site information, and perform administrative functions like user and group management.
AssetNow NX provides support for World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards including eXtensible Hyper-Text Markup Language (XHTML), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and Web Accessibility Initiatives (WAI, Section 508, Common Look and Feel etc.).
Adopting web standards and standards-based designs for your website is easy with AssetNow NX because web standards are built in; you use them without any additional effort. The result is that you can build, publish, and maintain websites that really do work better, cost less to maintain and serve, and reach more people and devices.
AssetNow NX is easy to use with practical tools focused on getting the job done. No more unnecessary features that just add frustration, clutter, complexity, and cost. The AssetNow NX XHTML editor provides a familiar, easy-to-use solution for business, non-technical, and technical authors to publish structured content which encapsulates meaning by applying semantic markup.
Accessing the AssetNow NX Tools
To access the AssetNow NX tools you require a user account with the appropriate permissions. Click the Sign In link to take you to the Sign in form. If a sign in link is not available you can access the sign in form using the URL /5,1,0,0,html.
AssetNow NX supports 4 levels of site access:
- Public content is available to anyone with access to the web site. This is the same as a user account with anonymous permissions.
- Member content is displayed in summary format, comprising the content title, teaser, and optional teaser image, until the member signs in. After signing in the entire content page and any member specific categories are available.
- Private content can only be seen and accessed after sign-in.
- Tools access is available to users with AssetNow NX roles such as publishing, approval, and administration.
To sign in enter your username and password, optionally check the remember option. Click the Sign in button.
If you have forgotten your username and/or password, enter your e-mail address and click Send to have your sign-in details sent to you.
The remember option encrypts and stores your username and password on the computer you are using. Only use this option when using your own computer. Never use this option on a colleague's computer, a shared computer, at a cyber café etc. To delete the encrypted username and password from a computer use the web browsers delete cookies option.
After signing-in click the Tools link to access the AssetNow NX tools. If you do not have Tools access permissions your name will be displayed next to the sign-out link.
Always sign-out when leaving your computer, especially if you have tools access.
AssetNow NX will maintain your sign-in indefinitely when you are accessing the tools. If you are signed-in and accessing the site, or navigate from the tools to the site, AssetNow NX will maintain your sign-in for 20 minutes. This means that if you do not click a link or perform some site activity, such as refreshing a page, for a 20 minute period, AssetNow NX assumes you have left your computer and not signed-out, and terminates your sign-in. You will have to sign-in again when you return.
Tool options available to you depend on your role. AssetNow NX tools can be configured to selectively enable options available to a user based on their role. This guide shows all options as enabled for the Site Administrator role.
AssetNow NX is supplied with four predefined roles. Your Site Administrator can create additional roles or customized the predefined roles to suit your requirements. The predefined roles are:
- Site Administrator, this role has global access permissions and can perform all functions. Typically there is only 1 Site Administrator.
- Group Administrator, this role has permissions to administer users within specific groups. For a large site you may have a number of group administrators.
- Approver, this role approves content within assigned categories. You do not have to have approvers if you do not require workflow.
- Publisher, this role creates content. Publisher access can be restricted to specific categories.
AssetNow NX Tools Workspace
After a user with tool access permissions has signed-in a "Tools" link is displayed. After clicking the tools link the AssetNow NX tools workspace is displayed. The workspace comprises 3 panels:
- Top panel displays the Main menu and is always available. The menu items depend on the user's role/s. The right side of the top panel displays status information related to tool operations.
- Left panel displays option specific to the tool selected from the main menu.
- Right panel is the main workspace and displays tool specific options when selecting options in the left tool menu panel.
Main Menu
The menu items depend on the user's permissions. The Site Administrator will have access to all items. A Publisher will typically only have access to the Start, Content, Sign Out, Site, and My Notes items.
- Start - This is the first screen displayed when you access the tools. Go back to this screen at any time by clicking Start on the Main menu.
- Content - Display the site Categories and Content tool. Select this option to manage the site structure and content.
- Comments - Display content Comment management tool. This tool is used to review, approve, edit, delete and rely to comments.
- Lists - display the mailing Lists (newsletter) tool. This tool is used to configure and publish newsletters and manage subscribers.
- Library - display the image and file library. Library assets are a shared resource allowing you to use the same images/files across any pages in the site. You can restrict access to library categories to specific publisher groups.
- Reports - displays the site analytics/metrics reports if enabled. Common metrics including traffic, visitors, geographic location and numerous content specific metrics are available.
- Forms - the forms tool allows to to manage the standard contact form. It can also be used for management of any custom forms developers add to your site.
- Permissions - Display the Users, Groups, and Roles administration tool. Select this option to manage User accounts, and to assign users to groups and roles. This option is normally only available to the Site Administrator and Group Administrators. Typically Group Administrators do not have access to the roles related functions.
- System - Used to manage and configure tool and custom application modules, site search management, log files and site configuration settings.
- Sign Out - Click to sign-out and return to the site. Tool users should always sign out when leaving their computer. AssetNow NX will maintain your session indefinitely when accessing tools.
- Site - Click to go to the site home page without signing-out. Return to tools by clicking the tools link.
- My Notes - Display your personal notes. Personal notes cannot be accessed by other users. Click to display a list of your notes and to view, add, edit, or delete a note. Notes may contain text and links only, images and files cannot be added to a note. Use personal notes for to-do lists, reminders and snippets of information.
Start Menu
When you first access the Tools or click the Start menu option the left panel displays Profile, Approval, Feeds and Date/Time items. Site Administrators will also have access to Session and License items.
Profile
The Profile option in the left panel allows the current user to manage their profile and settings. Clicking the linked user name will display a pop-up form show the user profile information.
Language - If the site is configured for multiple languages you can select your preferred language for the tools user interface.
Notifications - Enable notifications to allow AssetNow NX to send automated notification e-mails.
Currently this option is used to send for group notification. This setting can be used by developers for custom applications.
Approval
If you have approval permissions and there are content items awaiting approval they will be listed here. Items awaiting approval have a flashing blue icon. Click the title of an item to review it. When reviewing an item additional options are available at the top of
the item:
- Lock allows you to have exclusive access to the item. If you are unable to complete your review, for example if you need to confirm some items, check the lock option and click save. This will ensure other approvers with permissions to approve the item cannot access it.
- Approve will forward the item to the next step in the approval workflow. The workflow steps are displayed below the options. If the current approval is the last step in the workflow the item will be released and replace the active revision.
- Reject will move the item back to draft status and remove it from the approval list.
- Notes are used for collaboration. A note should be added if your reject an item so the author knows what corrective action is required. If you want a hard copy to markup print the item by clicking inside the main panel, then right-clicking your mouse and select the print option.
Feeds
Tool users can keep themselves updated with approval and notes by using:
- A feed reader to subscribe to the feeds.
- A web browser that supports live bookmarks to book mark the feeds.
- A web browser to view the feed.
Feed readers and web browser that support live bookmarks update periodically so the user does not have to take additional action to be notified. If you are using a web browser to view the feeds you will have to refresh the page periodically to see the most
recent changes.
Both feeds require the user to login to review any items linked in the feed. The Approval feed is updated whenever draft content is submitted for review and approval.
The Notes feed is updated as new notes are added to categories and content. Notes are used for collaboration and typically associated with categories and content by clicking the Note icon available with the category/content item. A note associated with a category or content item can be viewed by any other user with permissions to access the item. The Notes editor allows text and links. Images and files are not supported in the Notes editor.
Users can also create personal notes using the Notes link in the tools main menu. Personal notes are handy for to do lists, information snippets etc. Personal notes are not linked in feeds and are not accessible to other users or linked to a category or content item.
Sessions
This is only available to the Site Administrator. The sessions displays shows Public, Private and Expired session details. Any visitor to the site creates a session. The default session time is 20 minutes. If a visitor does not perform any actions within a 20 minute period their session expires. AssetNow keeps track of sessions for automatic content locking and site metrics.
- Public sessions are visitors to the site who have not signed in with a user account. These may include search engines and other non-web browser agents.
- Private sessions are users who have signed in and have access to tools and/or private content.
- Expired sessions are sessions that have expired but have not yet been flushed from the AssetNow tracker. AssetNow flushes one expired session each time a new anonymous session starts to limit the impact on performance without needing to use scheduled tasks to perform flushing.
Time
The Time item displays the Server, Schedule and Local date and time. Typically these should all be the same with an allowance for minor differences due to the server clock not be exactly synchronized with your local machine clock.
- Server time is the time of the server running AssetNow.
- Schedule time is the time used by AssetNow when scheduling items. This date/time is set based on adding an offset to the server time. The offset is entered via the System configuration parameters. If your site is hosted on a server in a different time zone then you can use the offset to synchronize the scheduled times with your local time.
- Local time is determined from your web browser and computer.
License
This is only available to the Site Administrator and provides a summary of the site license including AssetNow NX version, type of license (Developer, Professional), number of Publishers, Number of pages (typically unlimited), and licensed domain names/ IP addresses.