Maintaining Extranet Client Pages

The rest of this newsletter will function as a reference for how an agency uses the Client Manager to create and maintain their client pages. Agencies are able to administer Client Manager through the NewfangledCMS, providing them with an administrative interface that is simple and easy to use. We have continued to add new features and capabilities to improve Client Manager based on our own experiences with the system and input from agencies that use it. However, because the system has grown over the years we will now document its specific functions so that this newsletter can serve as a reference for using Client Manager 2.3.


An agency accesses the Client Manager in the same way that their clients do, usually through a sub domain (see above). However, when the agency enters their username and password, the system directs them to the administrative side of Client Manager.

The Client Manager's administration page lists all active clients and projects in the gray left side column of the page. The main content area of the page displays specific tools for creating client pages. The upper right area of the Client Manager has three site utilities, "settings," "home," and "Log out." The "home" and "log out" links should be self-explanatory we will discuss the "settings" link later.

The client listing on the left side can be filtered by the pull down menu at the top of the gray column. The filtering choices are "active," "new business," "archived," "internal," and "view all clients." When you create or modify a client record you can change its status to any of these options. This helps keep the list of clients manageable.


To add a new client to the system, simply click the "add new client" link at the top of the gray column. This will pop up a NewfangledCMS screen that asks for the client name, login, password, first and last name, group name and status. There is also a "contact info" tab for general client contact information. The login and password you enter here are the ones your client will use to access their client page (they will be case sensitive). The group name field should be set to "client" (as opposed to "system administrator"). The status field is where you assign the client status category as mentioned above. There is also an "expires on" field. This is rarely used, but if you want a particular client's access to end on a given date you would enter it in this field. This feature might be used when using a client page in a new business pitch. Once the information is entered you simply click "save" in the lower left, as you would any NewfangledCMS screen.

To change a client's information after it has been created simply click on the client's name in the gray list to access the client administration screen. The client administration screen displays the client's name, their user name and password, a list of active projects, their main contact information, and some other administrative tools. From this page you can add projects, make changes to the overall client settings and contact information, or delete a client. To make changes to a client's status or log in information, click "edit client info." This accesses the same screen created when the new client was first added. Make whatever changes are needed and click "save."

The client administration screen, as well as project administration screens, displays a "view client page" button in the upper right. This button brings up the resulting client page that the client will see (minus any items tagged as internal - see above).


The main client administration page includes an "add project" link. This link pops up a new project window. The window contains specific project information such as job name, job code, and description (as well as some web specific fields). It also contains website prototype fields that can be ignored if the project is not a website. An "active" check box is checked by default. To remove a job from the client page, simply deselect this box. Deactivating a project also removes it from the administration screen. To display a deactivated project again use the pull down menu above the project list box (choose "view all projects"). Once you add a project to a client page you can begin to add specific information to the page. You can access the project administration screen by clicking on the project from project list on the main client administration screen. You can also access projects administration screens by clicking the red triangle next to the client name in the left hand client column. This reveals a list of projects for that client. Clicking on a project will open that project's administration screen.


The project administration screen displays the project name, project code, and four sets of tools for maintaining specific project information (documents, layouts, schedules and prototypes). This screen also displays project tools (for changing the overall project information and status), and contains links to project specific contacts.

Document tools - The document tools section allows you to add and edit documents. Clicking "add document" allows you to upload a document and give it a description. The description fields include title, view order (if there are multiple documents), file placement, date, link, and description. The file placement field determines whether a document will display in the "Work in Progress" or "Documents and Links" area of the client page. The link field is used to create an external link by entering the full URL ("http://www.whatever.com/specifcpage.htm") to an external document or web page. In the case that you are uploading a document, you simply leave the link field empty and use the attachments tab to upload the document. The attachments tab provides a "browse" button to locate the document (PDF, word document, etc.) on your local computer. There is a 6MB file size upload limit, so if you are adding a large audio, video, or print quality graphic file that exceeds this limit, you may need to post the document externally and use the link function instead.

To edit an existing document's information, click "edit document." This brings up a standard NewfangledCMS content list of all documents in the system. To edit a particular item, you simply click the ID number at the left of the selection and a content screen will popup for editing. To delete a document, you change the pull down's status in the last column to "delete" (the default status is "nothing") and click the "do selected" link in the column's heading. This will delete the document from the list (FYI, this slightly unintuitive NewfangledCMS process allows an administrator to alter the status of multiple pieces of content with one action).   next >