Set basic preferences that cover both sides of RB Connect

Set preferences for aspects of RB Connect that impact both sides of your site

Lesson #148
Connect – Connect Preferences function

Basic system preferences

Your RB Connect consists of 2 URLs, one for your contacts and the other for your resources. These preferences contain information and options for features that span both sides of your RB Connect.

General

General preferences include your RB Connect site name, its URLs, the default address that RB Connect emails are sent from, which business units are connected to each side of your RB Connect, and which one is the default for each side, and which RB Connect plugins you have.

License Info

You can name your RB Connect site to identify it in RB9 dropdowns. The other information under License Info is the URLs for the Contact and Resource sides of your RB Connect. These addresses are set by the system and not editable.

Email

In System Preferences, you set up a default email address (and possibly a list of shared addresses) to be used system-wide. All RB Connect calendar communications for the contact side of RB Connect will be sent from this default email account. If desired, designate one of the other shared email addresses as the source for automatic job confirmations and cancellations.

Business Units for Contact/Business Units for Resource

If your company has multiple business units (BUs), you can specify which BUs are connected to each side of your RB Connect, and which one is the default for each side. You can add and remove BUs for each side at any time.

If you have multiple BUs (branch offices), it can be difficult for clients to choose the right one when they are entering job requests. We recommend creating a dummy BU called “Connect Order” and make it the default BU for the Contact side of RB Connect. Then your calendar staff will make the determination as to which BU should handle a request. You can sort these lists by one or more columns in ascending or descending order (but when you exit the function, RB9 will revert back to the default order). Export these lists of BUs as Excel or CSV files to share, save, print, or use in other applications.

Plug Ins

If you have RB Connect plug-ins, either RB Connect Mobile or Full Text Search, they are listed as active here. This list is not editable, but you can export it as an Excel or CSV file to share, save, print, or use in other applications.

Login

RB Connect sign-in preferences for both the Contact and Resource sides follow the same general security rules for log-ins as RB9, and offer the same customization options. Plus you can give users the option to sign in using social media.

In Connect Preferences, you can:

  • Protect user accounts from hacking attempts by selecting a set amount (3–7) of incorrect login attempts before RB Connect locks out the user. (RB Connect preferences offer a Never Locked Out option, but we do not recommend this option as it is against general security rules for business applications to allow unlimited log-in attempts.)
  • Require complex passwords that contain a minimum of 8 characters and include a number, lowercase letter, capital letter, and symbol.
  • Force users to reset their password periodically. You can set the duration to every 30, 60, 90, or 180 days before RB9 users must change their password.
  • If you require users to change their password periodically, allow them to keep using the same password when they update their password.
  • Use email addresses as the log-in name for all of your user accounts, instead of custom log-in names. With custom log-in names, users can change their log-in names, but everyone must have a unique log-in name. They do not have that option with email addresses.
  • Require users to verify their identity upon RB Connect sign-in with a second factor in addition to their user name and password.  A verification code will be sent to the user’s preferred method of communication, which they must then enter into RB Connect before accessing the site. Authentication is per device, and users can decide to authenticate a device once or every time they sign in on that device.
  • Allow contacts and/or resources to sign into RB Connect using their Facebook, Google+, or LinkedIn account.

Invitation Letters

When you enter contacts or resources into RB9, you can send them invitation emails that include their user name and other RB Connect information, like how to set their password. You can change the default text of the header and body of these emails; and create different emails for contacts and resources.

You can automatically insert relevant RB Connect data into the email message with contextual data fields for user name, login page URL, person’s name, place of business, etc. You can also customize the appearance of the message with text formatting, images, color, hyperlinks, and tables. You can edit your message contents in the default WYSIWYG word processor environment or as HTML markup.

Forgot Password Email

When contacts or resources forget their RB Connect password, they can request a new password from the sign-in screen. RB Connect will automatically send them an email so they can reset their password. You can change the default text of the header and body of these emails; and create different emails for contacts and resources.

You can automatically insert relevant RB Connect data into the email message with contextual data fields for who requested the reset, when they requested it, and the link to reset their password. You can also customize the appearance of the message with text formatting, images, color, hyperlinks, and tables. You can edit your message contents in the default WYSIWYG word processor environment or as HTML markup.

Branding

Customize the look and feel for both of your RB Connect sites (contact and resource). Before you start using RB Connect, you must:

  • Upload your company logo in 2 sizes: one for the login page and one for the header on all internal pages.
  • Enter titles for the Contact and Resource sides of your site.

If you have RB Connect Mobile (RBCM), you must:

  • Enter the title for your mobile site.
  • Upload your company logo or other image that will appear as your RBCM icon in mobile browser tabs, bookmarks, and on the Home screen when users create an RB Connect shortcut in their mobile browsers.

Other customization options

In addition to the required customizations, you can further brand your site by:

  • Adding text that will appear on the Contact side and Resource side login pages. You can customize the appearance of the text with formatting, images, color, hyperlinks, and tables. You can edit your text in the default WYSIWYG word processor environment or as HTML markup.
  • Selecting the login page’s background color.
  • Customizing the text and background colors of the main menu bar.
  • Customizing the text and background colors of internal page headers.
  • Customizing the text and background colors of results grid headers and footers.
  • Customizing the background color of section headers.

You can preview your RB Connect pages before your contacts and resources see them. When you are finished customizing and previewing pages, save your setup to go live with your choices. You can update your customizations at any time.

Other Connect Preferences sections

NOTE: This is an RB9-only function. It is not included in RB Lite.

TL;DR: Set preferences for aspects of RB Connect that impact both the Contact and Resource sides.

RB concepts in this lesson

Business Unit (BU): One of your company’s revenue centers or any entity in your business that you want to track separately, such as branch offices, other companies you own, affiliates, and profit-sharing operations.

Contact: Person who works for a firm you do business with.

Full-Text Search: Clients can search for specific text in their RB Connect repositories and Transcript Packages, and get results in seconds with this plug-in. When they locate the right file in their repository, they can download it. More >

Job: Usually the reporting of a deposition, but can also be any kind of service you provide with your reporters or other resources. More >

RB Connect: Online repository, calendar, and access to your office for clients and resources. More >

RB Connect Mobile: Clients and resources can access your RB Connect on their smartphones and tablets in an interface optimized for mobile devices. More >

Resource: Person or thing that provides your business with a service, such as reporters.

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