OutreachSystems

Before populating your database with clients and client activity records, you must first create center records. In addition to storing general information for each center in your program, the Centers form also stores important settings that are associated with each center.

Center records can only be created in WebCATS and only by a WebCATS administrator.

Creating Center Records

As previously stated, only users with administrative privileges in WebCATS have the ability to create a new center record. Center records can be created by selecting View|Centers. Once you are in the Centers view, select the New button to create a new center record, as displayed in the following graphic.

The Centers form page contains basic center data. Any field with an asterisk next to the title of that field is a required field and must be filled in. Since many of this page's fields are self-explanatory, only the ones requiring comment or explanation are discussed next.

Center

The Center field is where you enter the Center ID and can contain up to 12 alpha or numeric characters. For example, the Pismo Beach SBDC might be the name of the center, but in the Center field we might choose PISMO as the Center ID. Each center in your program must be assigned a unique Center ID.

Region

You may want to assign center records to regions. This can be done by simply entering a region ino the Region field. When entering the same region into multiple center records, make sure the region is entered identically each time or WebCATS will consider them to be different regions.

All regions entered into the Region field are compiled by WebCATS and made available for selection when selecting centers for the purpose of running reports or filtering data. For example, as shown in the following illustration, the Centers picklist found on the Client/Pre-Client Subset screen displays any regions entered into the Centers form. If you select a region from this field's picklist, WebCATS will automatically select all centers whose center records have been assigned to that region.

Type

From the Type field's picklist, select the center type. There are six pre-defined types to choose from: PTAC, SBDC, VBOC, WBC, Dual-funded, or Other.

It is important to accurately assign a center type in this field. Many of WebCATS' defaults, warnings, and messages are triggered based upon center type. For example, if you select "SBDC" as a center's center type, you will not receive warning or informational messages relating to WebCATS bid match features when editing records that belong to that center.

Status

When creating a new center record, the Status field defaults to "Active." If you want this center to be visible from the eCenter Network of Centers listing, set the status to Public. In the event that a center becomes inactive, you may want to make it unavailable for picklist selection via WebCATS' other forms by selecting "Inactive" from the Status field's picklist.

Only centers with a value of "Active" or "Public" in this field will be available for selection when assigning new records to a center.

Location Code

In the Location Code field, enter the center's unique PIMS code. This is an SBA-assigned code that must be used by SBDCs that report to EDMIS.

OutreachSystems Account

In the OutreachSystems Account field, enter the center's OutreachSystems account number. When present, this account number, followed by outreachsystems.com (account@outreachsystems.com) will be used as the default "from" address for all e-mails created in WebCATS- when the center is the current active center.

OutreachSystems assigns account numbers to every mailbox we set up on our system for your program. It is imperative that every center record appropriately reflect the mailbox they are using. This field especially plays an important role in OutreachSystems' Bid Match program.

E-mail

The e-mail address entered in the E-mail field will be the default "from" address when sending mass e-mailings from WebCATS.

Address/City/State/Zip Code

While these fields might seem self-explanatory, it is worth noting that if this Center is public on eCenter, the address information entered in these fields will be listed on eCenter in the Network of Centers listing.

Configuration

Within the Configuration section you can set auto-IDs for client and conference records, establish a default client view, counselor and city and manage the allotted attachment quota for that center.

ID Format

In the ID Format fields, enter the formats you would like the auto-IDs for new client and conference records owned by the center to follow. The client ID format can contain up to eight characters and the conference ID format can contain up to 10 characters. Each can consist of a prefix, suffix, and must have at least three pound signs (#). The pound signs are placeholders for numeric digits. For example, entering "SB####" as an ID format will produce IDs that begin with the letters "SB" and end with four digits.

Next (Client/Conference) Number

These fields display the next numbers that WebCATS will use in place of the pound signs. Continuing with the previous example, entering a "1" into the Next Client Number field will produce "SB0001" as the next client ID. Because the pound siugns dictate that the ID consist of six total characters, three zeros automaticially precede the "1." WebCATS will continue in this fashion for each new client auto-ID for the center, with the next ID being "SB0002," then "SB0003," and so on.

Default Counselor

The Default Counselor field's picklist is populated by names of active counselors that currently exist in the database. Only those counselors who are associated with the current center record will appear in this picklist.

The default counselor selected here for a user's home center will only come into play if a user does not have a default counselor assigned to their user account. If a user does have a default counselor assigned to their user account, that default will always override the counselor default of their home center when creating records.

Default City

If you enter a city into the Default City field, all of the center's records that reference a city will default to the city you provided.

If you have custom zip codes configured, the associated city entered into the Zip Codes page of WinCATS global configuration settings will take precedence over the default city entered here.

Attachment Quota

In the Attachment Quota field users are able to allocate a percentage of the overall 500 MB of attachment space that a center is not allowed to exceed. For example, entering 0% would disallow any documents from being attached to that center's record or its client records. Entering 50% would provide the center with 250MB of space for attachments and so on. For more information on this topic, see the FAQ titled How do I upload and manage attached documents?.

eCenter

Within the eCenter section of the Center record you have the ability to enter the information that is displayed on the eCenter Network of Centers page, provided that the center has been made Public. If the center is not a public center on eCenter you can choose a referral center from the picklist within this section.

Within this section you also have the ability to select a survey to be public for your center's users on the "Current Survey" picklist.

For more information on this, view our other popular resources on this topic:

• FAQ: How do I switch between Centers within WebCATS?
• FAQ: How do I modify the mandatory and visibility status of the fields on the client sign-up form in eCenter?

Want more? Browse our extensive list of WebCATS FAQs.