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Dashboard
The hardware/software ordering system dashboard is your go-to place to manage orders within the system. The dashboard was designed with the idea of using tiles as navigation through the system. Each tile will provide you with minimalist data as well as act as entry points to drill down into orders. Tiles for administrators differ from tiles for generic users.
Settings
Settings can be accessed by clicking on the top-left tile:
The settings area provides functionality to maintain users, items, and proxies within the system.
Proxy Maintenance
Proxies within the hardware/software ordering system represent 2 users with shared responsibility. For example, if John Doe and Joe Smith are proxies within the system, then John can take action on the responsibilities Joe has, such as approving orders for Joe. Proxies will also receive all of the same notifications as one another (ex: Order pending your approval, order has been assigned to you, etc).
Add Proxy
To create a proxy relationship between 2 people, click on the 'Create Proxies' menu button:
You can then select the 2 users who will be proxies for each other by typing in the last name of each user into the Search box and letting the system auto-find the user you're looking for:
Remove Proxy
Once a proxy has been established, you can easily remove the proxy by clicking on the 'Proxy Maintenance' menu button:
You can then search for a particular proxy by last name or net id and once you've found the proxy you wish to remove, simply click on the green square of that proxy. You will be prompted to confirm the removal of the proxy.
Item Maintenance
All hardware items that can be ordered are stored within the system and are maintained within the Item Maintenance area.
Add Item
To add an item, click on the 'Add Item' menu button:
The general item info section at the top defines the bare minimum data required to create an item in the system:
Items can also have selectable specifications added such as Size, Color, etc. We call the categories of these specifications 'Option Groups.'
You can add as many Option Groups to an item by simply typing in the name of the Option Group and clicking on the Add button:
Once you've created your Option Group, you then need to add the specific options for that group (ex: Black, White, etc):
When your item is defined correctly to your liking, simply click on the button to save the item to the system.
Edit Item
To edit a specific item, click on the 'Item Maintenance' menu button:
You can use the top search box to find an item searching by name or platform, or you can select from the list of items below. Once you've found the item you'd like to edit, simply click on the box that represents that item:
You can now edit this item in the same way as if you were to add the item. You can add option groups and options, change the notes, etc.
Once you are satisfied with your changes click on the button.
User Maintenance
All Admin, CTS, and IR users are maintained within the system itself. The User Maintenance section allows you to add users with a specified role, or disable users. The system only needs to know a user's Net Id and will pull any relevant data it needs about that user from Banner.
Add User
To add a user, click on the 'Add User' menu button:
Adding a user requires only the user's Net Id (the same as they use to log in to myRedDragon) and the role the user is going to have within the system:
Once you are satisfied with the Net Id and the user's role, click on the 'Save User' button.
Edit User
To edit a specific user, click on the 'User Settings' menu button:
You can use the top search box to find a user, searching by name or Net Id, or you can select from the list of users below. Once you've found the user you'd like to edit, simply click on the box that represents that user:
You can now edit this user in the same way as if you were to add the user, except that you are not allowed to change someone's Net Id.
To remove access to the system for a specific user, simply check the 'Account Disabled' checkbox and save the user. Doing so will prevent them from accessing the system with their role permissions.
To save any changes made to the user, click on the 'Save User' button.
Queues
As the workflow for an order progresses, many different people need to be involved before the order can be completed. Our solution to help promote the workflow, while making it easy for users to have quick access to orders they need to take action on, was to create multiple queues to place orders in depending on their position in the workflow timeline.
My Queue
Arguably, the most important queue for an administrative user is 'My Queue':
This queue places all orders that require immediate attention from either yourself specifically, or from a person within the same role as you (IR, CTS).
Why an order will be placed in your personal queue:
- Order was sent to be approved by you specifically.
- Order was sent to be approved by a role you belong to; either IR or CTS.
- Order was sent to your proxy to be approved.
- Order is assigned to you and is not yet a completed order.
Approved Orders Queue
The Approved Orders Queue serves as a useful place to find orders that have completed the approval process, but have not yet been assigned to a specific person:
This queue would be found useful by the CTS secretary, who can decide whether or not an order needs to be assigned to a Mac Services person or a PC Services person.
Why an order will be placed in the Approved Orders queue:
- Order has completed approval process and is not assigned to a person.
In Progress Queue
The In Progress Queue will hold orders that are currently being worked on by an assigned user:
This queue would be found useful by the IR secretary to see which orders are still in progress before the end of the fiscal year.
Why an order will be placed in the In Progress queue:
- Order has been approved, is assigned to a person, and has a status other than 'Approval Pending', 'Approved', or 'Closed'.
Search
The search mechanism allows administrators to browse through every order ever entered into the system:
Search results are returned in ascending order from when the order was originally submitted (the newest orders show up on top).
You can search for orders by order #, status, or recipient names.