In order for the system to function correctly, there are a number of steps that need to be undertaken.
Pre-Installation Requirements- Neighbourhood Watch
Domain Name. In order to acquire a free org.za domain name, the organisation needs to provide the following information
- Prefered domain name.
- Name, address, fax, tel and email adress of person responsible for the domain.
- Copy of the constitution (to enable free org.za domain registration) and section 21 document if applicable.
Essential organisation information
- Full organisation name.
- Abreviated Organisation name.
- Logo if available - if required, we can provide a template and you can change it later.
Additional organisation information - preferred but not essential
- Choice of site layout template - choice of 8 but can be changed at any time once the site is running.
- Choice of theme/colour scheme - choice of 24 but can be changed at any time once the site is running.
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Details of Zone(s) & Street setup - Required before the site can become operational. See Post Installation tasks below.
You may download a copy of the streets and zones import spread sheet here.
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List of members if you wish to import them automatically. See Post Installation tasks below. Whilst not essential, it is strongly recommended you use the automated import process because of the work involved of doing it manually.
You may download a copy of the member list format spread sheet here.
Installation and Initial Setup - Octo-Xpressions
Once the domain name has been secured and all information provided, Octo-X will perform the following;
- Setup the hosting, email addresses and email forwards.
- Upload the site pages.
- Set the initial site template.
- Set the initial theme/colour scheme.
- Add the logo - if supplied or template requested.
- Change the role status of the named administrator so that they can login and perform administrative functions and add other organisation members to different roles depending on their function.
A list of the different member roles and their responsibilites can be found here.
Post Installation Tasks- Neighbourhood Watch
Click here to download a post-installation checklist.
Before clicking any 'Go To' administration links below, please ensure you are logged-in
in a seperate window beforehand.
- Confirm the site theme - Help - Go to Site template options (System Administrator or Page Author)
- Confirm the site theme/colour scheme - Help - Go to User Interface Style (System Administrator or Page Author)
- Confirm the localisation options are set correctly - Help - Go to Site Localisation (System Administrator)
- Import your streets and/or zones. Help - Go to Import Streets & Zones (System Administrator or Zone Administrator) Once done, go to Street and Zone administration and confirm everything is correct - Help - Go to Zone Management (Zone Administrator)
- Go to the Site Functionality page and turn on/off the functions you wish to use (or not) on the website.
You may also set various aspects of how the functions behave if you switch them on. The functions are;
- Incidents
- News
- Events
- Patrols
- Suspicious Vehicles
- Suspicious Persons
- Community Causes
- Documents
- Community Notices
- Service Delivery Issues
- Lost & Found
- SMS
Help - Go to Site Functionality(System Administrator)
- Go to the Social Networking page and add any links to social networks your organisation may have. The current networks
are Facebook, Twitter and Google +. Once the links are added, the links will display in the top left hand corner of
the website - Help - Go to Social Networking (Page Author)
- Go to Widget Setup and define which content widgets you wish to display on the home page. A content widget is a small box
on the home page that displays a brief amount of content giving the user some idea of what it is about, they may then
click on the item if they find it of interest. Widgets may be resized and moved around/re-ordered on the home page
- Help - Go to Widget Setup (Page Author)
- Go to Page Editor and check the text on each page to ensure it reflects your organisation and the text you wish to display
to visitors to that page - Help - Go to Page Editor (Page Author)
Note:Within the page editor is a page called default.aspx. Selecting this will allow you to edit the content of
the Welcome widget on the home page.
- Go to Contact Page Administration and add/edit/delete the entries there to reflect your organisation
and the area you live. - Help - Go to Contact Administration page (Page Author)
- Go to Custom Member Fields and add any membership custom fields you like. For instance, you might wish to know each
members ID Number, in which case you would create an integer (whole number) textbox
- Help - Go to Custom Member fields (Membership Administrator)
- Go to Map Administration and ensure the areas zones and streets are mapped correctly
- Help - Go to Map Administration (System Administrator)
[Note: this function is restricted to System Administrators due to the technical nature of setting up the map]
- Go to Patrol Setup and create your patrol zone(s). You may also add different patrol types (vehicle, bicycle, walking...), and patrol resources
(things a patroller can take on patrol such as flash light, radio etc.) and patrol email & documentation settings
- Help - Go to Patrol Setup (Patrol Administrator)
- If you have advertisers, go to Advertising Setup and add any advert(s) there
- Help - Go to Advertsising Administration (Advertising Administrator)
- Once the members have been imported or you have got a significant number registered, you may
go to Member Group Administration and create any member groups you require. e.g. You may wish to create a committee member
group which you can then use to share documents with (create document category (above) and assign this group to that
category) or for emailing between yourselves
- Help - Go to Member Group Administration (Membership Administrator)
- Go to Document Administration and add any document categories you desire and then add documents to those categories
- Help - Go to Document Administration (Document Administrator)
- FINALLY!, You may import your members. Help - Go to Import Members (System Administrator or Membership Administrator) Once done, go to membership administration and confirm everything is correct - Help - Go to Member Management (Membership Administrator)
Ongoing Site Management - Neighbourhood Watch
Once setup and running, the only tasks that should require attention are;
- Member and guest administration - authorising, deleting, amending details etc.
- Content management - adding content, possibly adding, removing or re-ordering widgets.
- Adding/removing adverts.
- Patrol management.
- Document administration.
- Email administration.
- Incident, Suspicious Person and Suspicious Vehicle management.