Chapter 3 – Using and Customising the System Using Multiple Windows
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The different areas are as follows:
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The system tree shows you functions arranged by module.
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The menu system shows almost the same functions, arranged by functional area.
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The Navigation Toolbar and the Recently Used list lets you scroll through the history of screens you access. You can also use the Favourites option to store the most common options you use.
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The work area displays the item you select. This can be a further list of items, or, as in the case of the screen above, the records associated with the option.
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The work area toolbar then lets you choose common functions.
We will be looking at all these elements in this chapter.
Using Multiple Windows
Once you login to the system, the main screen displays. We call this screen the Explorer. You use the
Explorer to navigate through the system and initiate programs. Some of these programs operate inside the
Explorer’s work area; others open as separate windows so that you process in multiple windows at the same time. You can also open multiple copies of the Explorer itself. There are different types of windows and there are some rules that you need to understand. These issues will become clearer as you start working with the system.
Using some functions blocks access to all other functions. These functions run in windows we call exclusive or modal. All maintenance functions, for example, are exclusive. If you add or edit a master file record, the function opens as a separate window, and you cannot access any other functions in the system until you close that window.
Other functions are not exclusive. You can open as many processing functions as you like. Once you do so, it opens in its own window. This window, unlike a maintenance window, becomes independent of the
Explorer. You can even close the Explorer and continue to work in a processing screen.
Yet other functions execute in the work area of the Explorer. Enquiry programs are examples of this. You run the enquiry in the work area. Any other function you run removes the enquiry from the work area. It is, however often useful to have an enquiry running "in the background" and available for you to use. For example, in the Contact Management add-on module, an agent may like to keep an enquiry open showing the agent’s open incidents. The agent can then refresh this enquiry periodically to keep it up to date. To allow this, you can load multiple copies of the Explorer.
Only one agent is active at any one time on a workstation. You cannot close an Explorer and login as a different agent if there is another screen open.
Some windows can be resized, others not. You can resize processing windows and the Explorer windows.
As you do so, the system adjusts to the size available. For example, in a processing screen, the larger the screen is, the more lines of information you can see at once. Maintenance screens are usually a fixed size, and so you cannot adjust them.
Menus and Toolbars
In this section, we look in detail at how you navigate through the various application modules. We look at how you use the main Explorer window, and how you customise the system to suit your requirements.
Agents who login to the system customise their screens separately. We look at the following areas:
