This
user manual is organized into nine chapters that address the tasks involved in
using North Carolina Department of Commerce Content Management System (NCDOC-CMS).
Each chapter is practical in focus and will guide you through each of the steps
required to accomplish tasks.
Chapter 1: Introduction
A
brief overview of the structure of NCDOC-CMS and the roles and rights of NCDOC-CMS
users.
Chapter 2: Authoring
Process
An
overview of the NCDOC-CMS Authoring process.
Chapter 3: Creating
Content
This chapter
contains a detailed step-by-step explanation of how to create content including
text, images, attachments, hyperlinks, and how to publish it in the NCDOC-CMS.
Chapter 4: Web
Authoring Toolbar
This chapter
explains the web authoring toolbar within NCDOC-CMS and its icons that are used
in conjunction with the different types of placeholder indicators in a
template.
Chapter 5: Editing
Pages
Instructions
for how to edit all of your pages.
Chapter 6: Page
Status
Information
about how to check the authoring status of your pages.
Chapter 7: Production
Manager
Information
about how to check the status of your pages currently in production.
Chapter 8: Approval
Assistant
A
description of advanced authoring and content management features available to certain
NCDOC-CMS users.
Chapter 9: The Web
Authoring Console
A
description of advanced authoring and content management features available to certain
NCDOC-CMS users.
During
the process of using the application, you have available to you two types of
help.
1. Using
the NCDOC-CMS Web Authoring Toolbar, click on SWITCH TO EDIT site and then select HELP. This will display this manual as an on-line reference.
Or
2. Contact
your division’s CMS support contact for general questions. If they are unavailable to assist, submit a
help ticket through support.nccommerce.com.
Please use the CMS category when submitting the ticket.
Chapter 1 Introduction
[top]
Welcome to web publishing! This manual will help you learn to operate
the North Carolina Department of Commerce’s Content Management System
(NCDOC-CMS), the underlying technology that powers the agency’s public website.
Through training sessions and this
reference manual, you will learn how NCDOC-CMS works and how to place
information on the Commerce website. Typically, as an author or editor on the
system, you’ll only be responsible for maintaining a certain number of pages,
usually based by your business group or the audience you serve. Therefore, certain sections of the manual may
not pertain directly to you. But understanding
how all aspects of the system operate will serve you well in your role as a
Commerce author or editor.
The
NCDOC-CMS will be the only way to place content on the
North Carolina Department of Commerce web site.
At
the highest level, the NCDOC-CMS consists of a hierarchy of channels. Channels function in the same way as folders on
a computer that store and organize documents. Channels are organized by
subject, such as Business Services or Press Room.
Each
channel consists of one or more postings
regarding a particular subject. A posting is simply a web page. Each posting consists of two components: a design template,
and your content (which can include text, images, hyperlinks, and attached
documents).
In
summary, NCDOC-CMS is simply a collection of channels organized by subject that
contains one or more postings.
Figure 1 Authoring WebSite URL
Figure 2 Authoring WebSite English Link
Figure 3 Authoring WebSite Homepage
Channels
are created by the web administrator and can only have pages added underneath
them, similar to putting papers into a folder. As you begin your work you may
also find that some channels have no pages within the channel. These are known
as empty channels. Those channels that have pages
are known as populated channels.
The
different types of channels within NCDOC-CMS:
|
Channel Type
|
An Example
of Each Tier for the Business Services Channel
|
|
Tier1
Channel
|
|
|
Tier2
Channel
|
|
|
Tier3
Channel
|
|
There
are three different types of roles that are involved with managing the
NCDOC-CMS content.
- Authors
- Editors
- Administrators
Each
role will have only certain privileges or responsibilities when editing
content. At NC Department of Commerce, most content contributors to NCDOC-CMS
will be authors, who can create their own content. Listed below is a table indicating
each role within the NCDOC-CMS.
|
Role
|
Rights
|
|
Author
|
· Browses the site to view the channels and pages where the author has rights.
· Views and uses resources that are from a gallery
where the author has rights.
·
Views and uses templates
that are from a gallery where the author has rights.
· Creates, edits, deletes, and
submits pages where the author has rights.
|
|
Editor
|
·
Browses the site to view the channels
and content where the author has
rights.
·
Views and uses resources that are from a gallery where the editor has rights.
·
Views and uses templates that are from a gallery where the editor has rights.
·
Creates, edits, deletes, and submits
pages where the editor has rights.
·
Edits, submits, approves, declines, and
deletes pages where the editor has rights.
·
Views, edits, and approves pages that
use a template from a gallery where the editor has rights.
|
|
Administrator
|
·
Creates and manages all content
channels and users.
·
Creates, edits, and publishes pages.
·
Reviews and approves or declines pages
submitted.
|
Figure 4 Roles with NCDOC-CMS
Chapter 2 Overview Using CMS
[top]
Putting
pages in the NCDOC-CMS web site is a
two role process.
- Authors create, save
and submit
pages to the authoring server.
- Editors review and approve the
submitted pages; or they review and decline the submitted pages. If
approved then the pages are then queued to be published to the
production server.
Figure 5 Workflow of Web Content
Before
you begin creating content for a channel, you must make sure that you are in
Edit Side mode and not in Live Site mode.
Live Site Mode
Live
Site mode allows you to view the web site as if it were actually in a
production environment, where everyone using the Internet would see exactly
what you see. If you are in Live Site mode the only available option on the Web
Authoring Console (WAC) is Switch to Edit Site mode,
allowing you to make changes to those postings you have access rights to. You
cannot create content while in Live Site mode.
Figure 6 Home Page Shown in Live Site Mode
Edit Site Mode [top]
If
you are in Edit Site mode, you see the Web Authoring Console (WAC)
with the options
appropriate for your user rights and the status of the current page.
The Web Authoring Console (WAC) is a pop up menu with a varying number of options
that allows you to create, delete, and submit a new posting, to name just a few
of the options.
The WAC will only appear on those pages where you have
access rights to those pages. The
WAC menu options will also vary based on your role within NCDOC-CMS. For example, an Editor can select Approve on a posting that has
the status “Waiting for Editor
Approval”, but an Author cannot approve
postings.
The
table below lists the options available on the WAC when in Edit Site mode.
|
Option
|
Purpose
|
|
Page Status
|
Automatically provides the current status of
the posting.
|
|
Version
|
This option will only appear when you
have edited and saved an existing posting.
Until the Editor approves the posting, this value will always be Page has Live Version because the posting
on the live site currently displays the existing posting content.
|
|
Lock Status
|
Displays a Locked/Not Locked status for the
current posting.
|
|
Production Manager
|
Lists saved postings that are in the
production queue.
|
|
Approval Assistant
|
Lists postings awaiting approval.
|
|
Resource Manager
|
Lists available resource galleries and
resources in those galleries, such as shared images and documents.
The Resource Manager can be used to manage
the resources you need to create a Web posting. Resources, such as image
files, can be added, modified, or deleted. However, you must have
Administrative rights in order to modify resources using the Resource
Manager.
|
|
Preview
|
Provides a preview of the current posting.
|
|
Create New Page
|
Creates a new posting.
|
|
Edit
|
Edits a single posting or a connected posting.
|
|
Delete
|
Deletes a single posting or a connected posting.
|
|
Copy
|
Copies a single posting or a connected posting.
|
|
Move
|
Moves a single posting or a connected posting.
|
|
Submit
|
Posting is submitted for approval by either
an Editor or an Administrator.
Status of the is changed to “Waiting
For Editor Approval”
|
|
Approve
|
The posting has been approved. The status of
the posting is changed to “Published” and the posting is considered published
on the Authoring server. However, the posting is not considered “live” to the
Web site until it is promoted to the Production server during the day. If you
have an immediate need to expedite the posting to production, the Administrator can promote the content to the
production server manually as needed.
|
|
Decline
|
The content is rejected by the Editor.
|
|
Page Properties
|
Display the properties of the current posting
and can be used to modify properties.
|
|
Revision History
|
Displays all the versions of a posting.
|
|
View Revisions by
Date
|
Displays versions of a posting for a
specified date.
|
|
Channel Properties
|
Displays standard and
custom properties for a channel.
|
Figure 7 Web Authoring Console Options
Chapter 3 Channel Types
[top]
Channels are similar to folders in a desk where
you would store papers. Instead of storing papers, channels store web pages
(content).
There are two types of channels
within NCDOC-CMS:
- Empty Channels
- Populated Channels
Empty channels do not have any
content within them requiring a slightly different approach to getting started
versus populated channels that have existing postings.
The
following example illustrates what you will have to do the first time you
create content for an empty channel.
- Click Switch to Edit Site from the Web
Authoring Console (see Figure 8).
Figure 8 Switching to Edit Site Mode
- Click on Business Services, Support
Your Business (Support
Your Business is an empty channel Figure 9 ).
Figure 9 Clicking on an Empty Channel from Edit Site
Mode
Because
there is no content for the Support
Your Business channel, the following window appears (Figure 10) and only appears when creating content
for an empty channel.
Figure 10 Empty Channel Displays This Window
- Click on Create New Page. The Create New Page Select Template
Gallery window appears (Figure 11).
Figure 11 Template Gallery
All pages within the NCDOC-CMS are based on pre-defined
templates. This window allows you to choose from a list of templates that are
available to you.
Note: At the top of the window the
Destination Channel appears confirming where you have selected your content to
appear. If the Destination Channel is incorrect, close the window and navigate
to the correct channel while in Edit Site mode.
See Chapter 5, ‘The
Template Gallery’ on how to use the templates.
Most content you create will be going to a
channel that has existing postings. If that is the case, then you can use the
option Create
New Page from the Web Authoring Console
(WAC).
This option will allow you to create the content
using a template where you supply all of the text and images (if appropriate
for the selected template) for the page.
- Click Switch to Edit Site from the Web
Authoring Console (Figure 8).
- Click on Business Services> Start Your Business > Start-up Checklist (Figure
12). This
is a populated channel which we have access rights to.
Figure 12
Channel with existing content.
- Select the option
Create
New Page. The Create New Page Select
Template Gallery window opens (Figure
13).
Figure 13 Template Gallery
All pages within the NCDOC-CMS are based on pre-defined
templates. The Select Template Gallery window allows you to choose from a list
of templates that are available to you.
Note: At the top of the window the
Destination Channel appears confirming where you have selected your content to
appear. If the Destination Channel is incorrect, close the window and navigate
to the correct channel while in Edit Site mode.
See Chapter 5, ‘Using the
Template Gallery’, on how to use the templates.
Chapter 4 Web Authoring
Tools [top]
Contained
within the CMS application are numerous tools that make creating content for
the North Carolina Department of Commerce web site simple. They include
the Web Authoring Console, the Web Authoring toolbar, placeholders for your
content, and placeholder indicators.
The
Web Authoring Console provides access to all of the capabilities
within NCDOC-CMS. The Web Authoring Console is only available at the page level to users
who have appropriate rights in that specific channel.
This
section explains how to use each option found on the Web Authoring Console.
- Navigate to the
appropriate page. At this point you are in Live Site mode and the Web Authoring Console only shows the
option Switch to Edit Site (Figure 14).
Figure 14 Web Authoring Console in Live Mode
- Click the Switch to
Edit Site option to enter Edit
Site mode. The Web Authoring Console appears with a variable
number of options, depending of your access rights to the content, and
role within NCDOC-CMS.
The
number of options will vary by the role
(Administrator, Author, and Editor) and where
you are within NC-DOC. In the following image you see the options based on the
three different roles: Author, Editor, and Administrator.
The following
section describes the options that will be found on the Web Authoring Console.
Again, all options described here may not be shown when you are in NCDOC-CMS
because of your role.
Production Manager [top]
The
Production Manager option provides the capability to view the status of any of
your pages currently under production. This includes pages that are saved,
waiting for approval, unpublished or have been declined by an Editor for
publication.
Figure 15 Production Manager Window
The
Production Manager Window (Figure 15) presents a list of all of your pages currently
under production or “in construction”. Please note that this list does not
include published pages but rather pages that are under construction.
For
each page in production, the Production Manager displays the name of the page,
the status of the page, the channel in which the page will be published and the
date the page was last modified. Clicking the magnifying glass icon next to the
page name will present a preview of the page in a new browser window. Clicking
the Go To
link next to the page name will display your page in the window.
Approval Assistant (Editor Role Only) [top]
Users with Approval Assistant (Figure 16) rights can approve or decline multiple pages at one time. For example, an Author
creates a page and “Submits” it to an Editor. The Editor would then use the
Approval Assistant to review and either approve or decline the page(s). The Approve option does the same thing but
only on a single page basis.
Figure 16 Approval Assistant Shows Pages Waiting for
Editor Approval
Resource Manager (Administrator
Role Only)
Resource Manager gives an Administrator the right to upload images and
attachments to the Shared Resource Gallery for all users to access.
Preview your page by clicking the Preview icon on the Web Authoring Console. Your content page is
displayed in a new browser window. When you are finished previewing the page,
close the window by clicking on the X in the upper right corner of the window.
Save and Exit [top]
Click
Save and Exit on the Web Authoring
Console to complete the authoring process. Your page now displays with the expanded Web Authoring Console.
Note: The page status on the Web Authoring Console
should indicate “Saved”. This means that your page has been saved inside NCDOC-CMS
but it has not been approved and therefore
is not published. It will only be
visible to NCDOC-CMS users. If you do not have rights to approve (Editor rights) the page, you will need to click Submit in order to submit the page for the
Editor to review, and then approve or decline the page.
- Save your page by
clicking the Save option on the
Web Authoring Console.
- Click on Save
from the Web Authoring Console. The Create
New Page Save New Page window appears (Figure 17).
Figure 17 Save New Page Window
- Enter in the Name textbox the name of the page
that will be used to reference the page within NCDOC-CMS. The user of the
web site will NOT see this name. Use only
alphanumeric characters (a-z, 0-9) NO SPACES or special characters are
allowed.
Enter in the Display Name textbox the name of the page that will appear in the
browser’s title bar. Click OK. The
Page Status indicates Saved (Figure
18).
Figure 18 Page Saved
|
Figure 19 Console Options When Editing a
Page
|
Clicking
the Edit option will open the
current page in Edit Site mode to allow you to make revisions.
- Navigate to your
content page and then select the Edit option from the Web Authoring
Console.
- Edit the text of
your page.
- Save your page by
clicking the Save option on the
Web Authoring Console (Figure
19).
- Preview your page
by clicking the Preview option on
the Web Authoring Console.
- Click Save and Exit on the Web Authoring Console. Your page is displayed
in Edit Site mode with the expanded Web Authoring Console.
Note: The page status on the Web Authoring Console will
indicate “Saved”.
Because you have made changes to your page it will require re-approval by an
editor in order to be re‑published. Until your new changes have been re-approved,
the previously-approved version of your page
is still available to website users.
- Click Submit
to have the page reviewed by an Editor or an Administrator.
If
you have author or editor rights to the page, using this option will remove the
content from the channel that it resides in.
Navigate
to your content page and then select the Delete option from the Web Authoring Console. A dialog box asks you to confirm the
deletion (Figure
20).
Figure 20 Confirm Page Deletion Window
Use
this option to copy the current page to another channel that
you have access rights to.
Note: Changes made on one page will not be reflected on the copy of the page.
Also, if you try to copy a page from one channel to another with the same
name, the page will not be copied. An error message will not appear informing you
of the name conflict so pay careful attention!
- Navigate to the
page that will be copied to the other channel.
- Click the Copy
option on the Web Authoring Console. The Copy Page Select Destination Channel window appears
(Figure
21).
|
Figure 21 Copy Page Select Destination
Channel Window
|
- Navigate to the
destination channel for the page using the channel structure and click
on that channel. The Destination
Channel textbox reflects where the page will be copied (Figure
22).
|
Figure 22 Destination Channel for Copied
Content
|
- After selecting the destination channel click OK to copy the page. The page is copied to the other channel.
Move
This
option is used to move the current page to another channel that you have access
rights to.
Note: If you try to move a page from one
channel to another with the same name, the page will not be moved.
An error message will not appear informing you of the name
conflict so pay careful attention!
- Navigate to the
page that will be moved to another channel.
Click
the Move
option on the Web Authoring Console. The Select Destination channel window appears (Figure 23).
