Questions and answers
The Web Generation Simple Tools will provide your organisation with a staff Phone Directory and collection of In/Out Boards.
The Phone Directory
An In/Out Board
With the Phone Directory, you can:
- Display staff details, including their names, phone numbers, roles, departments and cell/mobile numbers
- Search the Phone Directory listings by name, department, extension, phone number or role
- Provide staff with a convenient way to read your organisation-wide memos and notices
- Give staff a single place where they can find the organisation's commonly used phone numbers — such as the payroll, IT Support and emergency phone numbers
- Add your own unique fields - such as the days a staff member works, their after hours contact number or their manager's name
- Seamlessly integrate the Phone Directory into your organisation by renaming the items to match your organisation's terms. For example, instead of using the item Department in the Phone Directory, you can rename it to Team or Program
- End the hassle of entering and maintaining the Phone Directory listings yourself by having staff enter and update their own Phone Directory listing
- Easily keep the Phone Directory correct and up-to-date by enabling staff to query incorrect listings directly from the Phone Directory
- Easily import/export your staff information from/to Exchange or Outlook or any other program that supports comma separated values files
- Create customised staff directories and lists which can be printed out or copied into other programs – such as Microsoft Word and Excel
The In/Out Boards allow staff to record:
- if they in or out of the building
- where they are – including the address and phone details
- when they expect to return
- how they can be contacted
With the In/Out Boards:
- You will know where staff are, when they will be back, and if they have not returned from a client visit
- You can keep your clients happier. When clients ring reception and ask for you, they can be told where you are and when you will return, rather than just receiving a vague message
- You can keep from being interrupted. If you mark yourself as busy on the In/Out Board, reception will know to put your calls straight through to voicemail
- You can organise your day around other people's movements because you will know when they are out, and when they will be back
- In an emergency, you can print out a list of every single person in the building and ensure that they are safely out of harms way
1. Search Box
Allows staff to search the Simple Tools Phone Directory
2. Navigation
Allows staff to navigate the Simple Tools
3. Staff Listings
Staff information is displayed here
4. Important Information
Organisation wide memos and information, such as addresses, meeting dates, special days are displayed here.
5. Useful Numbers
Useful numbers – such as the IT Helpdesk, Payroll, Managers, Help lines etc – are displayed here
6. Search by Department
Allows staff to search the Phone Directory by department.
7. Print, List and Bookmark
Allows staff to print out a copy of the displayed listings, bookmark the current page and create a list from the displayed staff names to copy into other programs
8. Request button
Allows staff to send an email to the listing owner asking them to update their listing.
1. Search Box
Allows you to search the Simple Tools Phone Directory
2. Navigation
Allows you to navigate the Simple Tools
3. Staff Listings
Staff listings are displayed here – along with a button allowing you to edit or remove the listing
4. Export button
Allows you to export the Phone Directory as a comma separated values file
5. Add listing buttons
Allows you to create listings in the Phone Directory by importing the information, emailing staff or entering it manually
6. Edit and Remove listing buttons
Allows you to edit or remove a listing from the Phone Directory
7. Request button
Allows staff to send an email to the listing owner asking them to update their listing.
8. Bookmark
Allows you to bookmark the current page
9. Activation Box
If you are trialling the Simple Tools, this box informs you the number of days remaining in your trial and allows you to purchase and enter and activation key
10. Departments Menu
This section allows you to add, remove and rename the departments.
11. Requests Menu
This section allows you to send emails to staff asking them to enter their information, and to monitor the results
12. Important Information Menu
This section allows you to add, remove, edit and reorder the Important Information.
13. Useful Numbers Menu
This section allows you to add, remove and edit the Useful Numbers.
1. Search Box
Allows staff to search the Simple Tools Phone Directory
2. Navigation
Allows staff to navigate the Simple Tools
3. Tiles
Allows a staff member to record their status
4. Visitors sign in box
Allows visitors to record their name and contact information on the In/Out Board
5. Request Button
Allows staff to send an email to the staff member asking them to update their status
6. Bookmark
Allows staff to bookmark the current page
7. Print
Allows a person to print out the In/Out Boards in case of an emergency
8. Change In/Out Board
Allows staff to view other In/Out Boards
1. Search Box
Allows you to search the Simple Tools Phone Directory
2. Navigation
Allows you to navigate the Simple Tools
3. Create button
Allows you to create a new In/Out Board
4. View button
Allows you to see the In/Out Board as staff members will
5. Delete and Rename buttons
Allows you to delete or rename an In/Out Board
6. Add/Edit button
Allows you to add/edit tiles on an In/Out Board
7. Show Visitors' sign in box radio button
Allows you to add a visitors' sign in box to an In/Out Board
1. Navigation
Allows you to navigate the Simple Tools
2. Insert new item here buttons
Allows you to add a tile to the In/Out Board
3. Tiles
Allow you to add a person, heading or space to the In/Out Board
4. Down arrow
When you roll your mouse over a down arrow, it will turn into an Insert new item here button
5. View Button
Allows you to see the In/Out Board as staff members will
You can navigate the Simple Tools using the navigation on the left hand side of the screen.
If you are logged in as an administrator you will have additional navigation options.
You can enter a search term in the search box in the top left hand corner of the page. The search will return any matches found in a person's:
- First name
- Surname
- Department
- Phone Number
- Mobile
- Extension
- Email address
- Information recorded in the Additional Details
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As you enter in your search term, the search box will suggest matches to assist you. |
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Below is a table explaining what the colours mean and what information you may like to include.
Status |
What it means |
Information you might include |
IN |
You are in the building and are taking phone calls. |
Use the box to say in which room you can be contacted, if you are not at your desk. |
OUT |
You are out of the building. For example, you have gone home for the day or are on a client visit. |
Use the box to say when you will be back. You can also add any information such as the person you are visiting and how you can be contacted. |
BUSY |
You are in the building, but are not taking phone calls. |
Use the box to say whether you are at lunch, or a meeting and what time you expect to be taking calls again. |
ON LEAVE |
You are on annual leave |
Use the box to say when you expect to return |
Below is the typical listing on the Phone Directory
The listing displays the information in the following format:
A person's status, taken from the In/Out Boards, is displayed at the bottom of their listing.
If this feature is enabled, you will see the Request icon ( ) in the top right hand corner of your listing on the Phone Directory.
By clicking on the Request icon, an email will be sent to you containing an encrypted link which will allow you to access the update listing page.
A email requesting a person update their listing on the Phone Directory
If this feature is enabled, you will see the Request icon ( ) in the top right hand corner of their listing on the Phone Directory.
If you believe their listing to be incorrect, click on the icon and an email will be sent to them which will let them know that their listing may need updating, and allow them to access the update page.
If the request icon is greyed out ( ), they have been sent the request email in the last 24 hours, and cannot be sent another until 24 hours has elapsed.
A email requesting a person update their listing on the Phone Directory
By clicking Print in the top right hand corner of the Phone Directory, a new window will open and you will be prompted with the Print Dialogue Box. |
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The Phone Directory print page
By clicking List in the top right hand corner of the Phone Directory, a list of the currently displayed staff will be displayed. |
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The Export page |
By clicking Copy to Clipboard the list will be copied so that you can paste it into other programs (such as Microsoft Word and Excel)
To create a more detailed list of staff information, please see the question How do I export all of the staff listings? |
This is a typical tile from an In/Out Board. |
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The information is recorded in this format. |
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When you move the mouse pointer over a tile on the In/Out Board, it will open revealing a text box in which you can type a message, and buttons to update your status. |
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To record your message, enter it in the text box and either click Save or one of the status buttons at the bottom of the tile.
To clear your message, click Clear .
If you do not wish to record a message, simply click one of the buttons at the bottom of the tile to change your status.
You can change the In/Out Board you are looking at by clicking on the buttons on the right hand side of an In/Out Board. |
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By using the Visitors sign in box, visitors can record themselves and their contact details.
By clicking Remove next to their name, they can be removed from this list. |
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If this feature is enabled, you will see the ( ) on their In/Out Board tile.
By clicking on the icon, an email will be sent to them which will let them know that their status may need to be updated, and allow them to quickly access the In/Out Board.
If the request icon is greyed out ( ), they have been sent the request email in the last hour, and cannot be sent another until at least an hour has elapsed.
A email requesting a person update their tile on an In/Out Board
By clicking Print in the top right of an In/Out Board, a detailed list of people, their location and their contact numbers will be printed. |
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Printing the In/Out Boards in case of an emergency
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To log into the Administration section, click on Administration in the navigation. This will take you to the login screen. |
The login page
By entering the password and clicking Login you will be logged in as an Administrator – allowing you to access all of the administration sections. If you have forgotten your password, please contact us atinfo@webgeneration.com.au
By closing the browser you will be logged out of the Administration Section.
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If you have are trailing the Tools, this menu will appear on the Phone Directory Administration home page. |
By clicking Click here to purchase an activation key you will be taken to the purchase page allowing you to purchase an activation key. This key will be sent to you via email.
By entering the key in the text box, and clicking Activate the Simple Tools the time limitation of the Simple Tools will be removed.
Administrators can configure the Simple Tools to the following settings:
- The ability to send email requests is completely turned off
- Any staff member can query another staff member's listing on the Phone Directory
- Only administrators can query a staff member's listing on the Phone Directory
- Staff will receive the email requests to check and update their listing
- Only administrators will receive the requests to check and update the listings
- Any staff member can query another staff member's status details on the In/Out Boards
- Only administrators can query a staff member's status details on the In/Out Boards
- Staff will receive the email requests to check and update their tile
- Only administrators will receive the email requests to check and update the tiles
These configuration options can be accessed through the Configuration > Request Settings option in the navigation.
The Request Settings page
The Simple Tools uses its own SMTP server to send emails. However, you may like to use your own.
To alter the Simple Tools SMTP Settings, go to Configuration > SMTP Settings . This will take you to the Configure the SMTP Settings page, allowing you to enter in the details of your own SMTP Server.
The SMTP Configuration page
Your organisation may not use the term Department. It may use the term Team or Program.
To change the Phone Directory to reflect your organisation's terms, click Configuration > Item Names in the navigation to go to the Rename the Phone Directory's items page.
You can change the names to match your organisation's terms by entering them in the text boxes and clicking Save . These changes will be reflected through out the Phone Directory.
The Rename the Phone Directory's items page
You can rename the Additional Details items using the instructions How do I rename the Phone Directory items to match my organisation's terms? .
In the rare event that the Simple Tools stop working, we recommend the following steps.
- Check to make sure that your network is up and running. If the network is down, your Simple Tools will not work. To fix the network, either contact IT or wait for IT to indicate the network problems are resolved.
- Restart the browser in which you are viewing the Simple Tools. This will resolve most of issues you will encounter.
- If you are still encountering issues, restart the computer that the Simple Tools are hosted on.
- The above steps will resolve 99% of all Simple Tools problems. However, if they do not, you may have encountered a bug in the Simple Tools. Please contact us atinfo@webgeneration.com.aufor more advice.
On the Phone Directory Administration page, Import , Email and Enter allow you to enter staff information into the Phone Directory.
These features are described below. |
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You can enter staff information manually into the Phone Directory by clicking Enter on the Administration page. |
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The Add a person page will appear allowing you to enter a person's information. The information will be saved when you click Add .
Note that the item names may be different to the picture below. This is because they can be changed match your organisation's terms.
The Add a Person page
The Simple Tools allows you to create staff listings from any comma separated values file – including those generated by Outlook and Exchange.
To create the listings from Outlook or Exchange, please do the following.
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Open Exchange or Outlook
Select File > Import and Export |
Make the following selections in the Import and Export wizard:
 
Clicking Finish will produce a CSV file like the following on your desktop.
You can use the instructions below to create the listings in the Phone Directory.
Before you import the CSV file, it is important to tell the Simple Tools which commas are part of the information rather than separators. For example, you may have the term Tues, Wed, Thurs in your staff information.
To tell the Simple Tools to treat these commas as part of your text, place a \ before each one. For example, Tues\, Wed\, Thurs
To import the CSV file, log into the Administration Section and click Import |
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Select a CSV file (such as the one you created in the question How do I create the Phone Directory listings from Outlook or Exchange? ) by clicking Browse and selecting it from the file menu.
Selecting a CSV file
Once you have selected the CSV file, click Upload to continue to the next page.
The Match Items page
On the Match Items page, you will need to match the information from the CSV file to the items in the Phone Directory. An example of this can be seen above. You can see that the First Name from the CSV file (bolded) has been matched up to the First Name item in the Phone Directory. Similarly, Mobile has been matched up to Mobile Number.
Depending on the information in the first line of your CSV file, different words will appear in bold to be matched to the Phone Directory items. You may like to add a line to the top of the CSV file which describes the information which appears in the column to assist you in your matching.
Once you have matched the items click Continue and the information will be imported into the Phone Directory.
Please note, if a person already exists in the Phone Directory, the information from the CSV file will overwrite the existing listing, rather than creating in a new listing. This will allow you to continually update the Phone Directory from a program like Exchange or Outlook without creating duplicate listings for each person.
A CSV file is a comma separated values file. It is a common way to capture tables of information in a text file.
Microsoft Excel is a good program to assist you when working with CSV files. It will automatically open CSV files as spreadsheets allowing you to easily manipulate the data. It will also allow you to save spreadsheets as CSV files. |
A CSV file opened in Microsoft Excel |
The Simple Tools will allow you to send emails that allow staff to create their own listing.
Before doing this, it is important:
- to change the Phone Directory item names to match your organisation's terms
- to rename the Additional Items to the information you would like to collect
This will allow staff to know exactly what information is required.
For more information on how to do this, see the question How do I change the names of the items?
To begin, log into the Administration Section and click Email |
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On the Send a Request page, enter the email addresses you wish to send the requests to, and alter the subject and message which is sent.
Email addresses can be listed as single emails, separated by a comma. For example:info@webgeneration.com.au,dcollett@webgeneration.com.au,help@webgeneration.com.au
Or a group email address. For example:AllStaff@webgeneration.com.au
Please note, before sending the requests to the whole company, you may like to trial the system with a small number of people – to ensure everything is working
Send a request page
The Requests menu on Administration Section displays the addresses that the requests have been sent to.
You can see who has created their listing since you sent out the request by the tick or cross next to their email address.
Please note, this system works very well for individual email addresses. However, it cannot keep track of all people emailed in a group email — such as one sent toAllStaff@webgeneration.com.au |
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You can also use this menu to remove the email from the list or resend an request. Removing the email from the list doesn't affect the email that was initially sent.
On the Phone Directory Administration page, Edit and Remove appear at the bottom of every person's listing. These buttons will allow you to update or delete the listing.
The edit a person details page
The departments menu appears on the Phone Directory Administration page. Using the Add , Rename and Remove buttons, you can access the pages to add, rename and remove departments.
When a department is removed, the people in it are not deleted. They are assigned to a department named Not Specified . |
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The Useful Number menu appears on the Phone Directory Administration page. Using the Add , Edit and Remove buttons, you can access the pages to add, edit and remove the Useful Numbers. |
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Important information is a term which refers to any information which you would like the organisation's staff to know. It can include:
- Site details, addresses and locations
- Important dates – such as meetings, parties
- Organisation-wide memos
- Instructions on using the Phone Directory, phone system or other equipment
The Important Information menu appears on the Phone Directory Administration page. Using the Add , Edit and Remove buttons, you can access the pages to add, edit and remove the pieces of Important Information. |
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When adding or editing a piece of Important Information, you can format the information using the tool bar above the Important Information text box
Formatting options on the edit a piece of Important Information page
You can reorder the Important Information text by clicking Top next to the piece of Important Information. This will move it to the top of the section. |
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You can export the staff listings from the Simple Tools to a CSV file. This file can be:
- used for back up purposes
- imported into Exchange or Outlook
- used in other programs
To export the staff listings, go to the Administration Section and click Export . |
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By clicking Click here to save your file you will be able to save the listings as a CSV file.
The Export Success page
After you have logged in as an Administrator, click on the In/Out Board Management button in the navigation. |
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The In/Out Board Administration page |
This will take you to the In/Out Board Administration page – which provides you with buttons to Create , Rename , Edit and Delete In/Out Boards. |
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By clicking Create in the top right hand corner of the table on the In/Out Board Management page, you will be taken to page allowing you to create a new In/Out Board. |
By clicking Delete in the In/Out Board listing, you will be taken to page allowing you to delete the In/Out Board.
By clicking Rename in the In/Out Board listing, you will be taken to page allowing you to give the In/Out Board a new name.
On the In/Out Boards Management page, you can add a visitors box to an In/Out Board by selecting Yes from the Show visitor's sign in box radio buttons.
You can remove the box by selecting No .
To add or edit tiles on an In/Out Board, click Add or Edit on the In/Out Board listing on the In/Out Boards Management page.
The In/Out Board Administration page showing the Add and Edit buttons
This will take you to the In/Out Board Construction page.
An In/Out Board Construction page
By clicking on an Insert new item here a blank tile will be added to the In/Out Board.
Note: The black triangles ( ) will change into an Insert new item here button when you roll your mouse pointer over them. |
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To create a Person tile, select the Person radio button (if it is not selected) enter a person's name in the text box, and click Save |
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To create a Heading tile, select the Heading radio button, enter a title and click Save . |
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To create a Space tile, select the Space radio button. It will automatically be saved. |
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To edit a tile, either alter the information in the text box, and click Save. Or change the tile type with the radio buttons, enter the new information and click Save .
To remove a tile, move your mouse pointer over the tile. A Remove button will appear allowing you to remove it. |
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The Simple Tools can support an unlimited number of In/Out Boards.
You may like to create In/Out Boards based on:
- office location
- floor
- department
- role
Ideas which can help guide your decision include:
- Choose layouts which will make it as easy as possible for staff to find themselves
- Choose layouts which will make it as easy as possible for reception to do their work
- Choose layouts which support the goals you wish to achieve with the In/Out Boards
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