Siebel eBriefings Administration Guide > Administering Siebel eBriefings >

Publishing Literature, Links, and Bulletins

Using the Message Broadcasts and the Literature features, you can publish information in Briefing documents. For example, marketing administrators can publish recent product literature, distribute Web clips, provide links to Web sites, and post bulletins. Users receive this information based on what they have subscribed to in their tracking profile.

For more information about tracking profiles, see Tracking Profile.

Publishing Literature

You can distribute literature items, such as sales brochures, marketing presentations, and price sheets to a targeted audience of users. When you create a literature record in the Siebel Encyclopedia, you identify the accounts, competitors, industries, and products associated with the contents of the file. Users who have selected those topics in their tracking profile will receive a link to the literature file. When a user clicks the link, the program that was used to create the file opens and the file is displayed.

You can use the My Briefing release and expiration date in the Document Administration > Literature view to control when literature items are posted.

Literature associated with accounts and competitors automatically appears in the literature section of Account and Competitor Briefing pages. Only when the literature items are deleted from the Siebel Encyclopedia will they be removed from Account or Competitor Briefings.

NOTE:  Users must have the appropriate applications installed to view literature items. For example, to view .pdf files, the user must have Adobe Acrobat Reader.

For detailed information about literature, see Applications Administration Guide.

Publishing Web Clips and Recommended Links

Recommended links allow you to distribute useful Web pages to users. You can include the linked page in the Web Clips section in-line or as a hyperlink.

When you publish recommended links, you target a specific audience by associating recommended links to accounts, competitors, industries, and products. The recommended link is distributed to users who have subscribed to these topics in their tracking profile. You control the release and expiration date using the Document Administration > Literature view.

To publish a literature item in eBriefings

  1. From the application-level menu, choose View > Site Map > Document Administration > Literature.
  2. In the Literature form, click the menu button and choose New Record.
  3. Enter the information for the literature record in the More Info applet below the Literature form, as described in the following table.

    4. Field
    Comments
    Name
    Enter a name for the literature record. This text appears as the link in the Literature section of Briefing pages.
    Description
    Enter a description to help identify the file.
    Literature Type
    Specify the type of link you are creating.
    For example, if you are creating a recommended link or Web clip, select Recommended Link.
    If you are creating a link to a file, select the appropriate type for the file. For example, for a sales presentation, you might select Sales Tool: Presentation. These values are from the Siebel List of Values.
    Size
    The file size is automatically entered.
    File Type
    The file type is automatically entered.
    Modified
    The date and time of the last file modification is automatically entered.
    Update File
    A check mark in this field indicates that the copy of the literature should be updated automatically each time the original file is updated.
    File Name
    Enter the name of the file or a URL. URLs must include the protocol, for example, http://.
    Synopsis
    Enter a summary of the literature item. Text in the Synopsis field appears on the user's My Briefing page. If nothing is entered in the Synopsis field, the contents of the Description field is displayed instead.
    Author
    Select the author's name from the picklist.
    Web Display
    If you are linking to a Web page, use this field to determine how to display it.
    Frame. Displays a link to the URL. When the user clicks the link, the content is displayed in the current frame (the area under the eBriefing tabs).
    Window. Displays a link to the Web page. When the user clicks the link, the page is displayed in an expanded window. The user must use the Web browser's Back button to return to Siebel eBriefings.
    New Window. Displays a link to the Web page. When the user clicks the link, the page is displayed in a new browser window, allowing the user to switch between Siebel eBriefings and the Web page.
    In-Line. Displays the entire Web page in the selected section of the portal page or pages.
    Displaying Web pages in-line works best with simple Web pages. Large or complex pages, such as those that use JavaScript, can slow down the system and cause unexpected results. Be sure to test in-line pages before distributing them to users.
    Release Date
    To post the literature item in users' My Briefing pages, enter a release date.
    Expiration Date
    To post the literature item in users' My Briefing pages, enter an expiration date.
    Distribution Method
    Indicates whether or not the file is automatically distributed to all users.
    Publish. Will send the record to the user and will begin the transmission of the file. If your user does nothing during a synchronization session, the file will download automatically. If your user explicitly skips the file, the file will not be downloaded in that synchronization session. During the next synchronization session, the same thing will happen.
    By Request. The user will get the record, but not the actual file. The user will have to request the file by selecting the Request field.
    Local
    This column is visible only when you are logged in to a local database.
    Indicates whether or not the document is available on the local hard disk. If a document is not available locally, you can request it by selecting the Request field. The file will be downloaded in your next synchronization session.
    Internal
    Indicates whether or not the document is about your company and not intended for public distribution (internal). Select the field if the document is internal.
    Clear the field if the document is about another company (external) or is intended for public distribution.
    If the literature is internal, it will not appear as a choice in the Enclosure list applet in the My Correspondence Requests view or in the Literature list applet in the Product Detail Administration view.
    To change this behavior, remove the Search Specification, Internal = "Y" on the appropriate Business Component. For more information on changing Business Components, see Siebel Tools Reference.
    Organization
    Select the organization to which you want to distribute the literature item.

    NOTE:  If you do not see the field name in the Literature form, click on the applet level menu on the Literature form and select Columns Displayed.

  4. In the More Info applet below the Literature form, select or add accounts, competitors, industries and products associated with the literature item.

    5. If the literature item is associated with an account or competitor, it appears in the literature section of the Account or Competitor Briefing page.

    For users who have included the associated topics on their tracking profile, a link to the literature item appears in the Literature applet on the My Briefing page.

Publishing Bulletins

Bulletins are internal company broadcast messages that alert users to company announcements. Bulletins appear in the New Bulletins section of the My Briefing page.

To publish bulletins on the My Briefing page

  1. From the application-level menu, choose View > Site Map > Communications Administration > Message Broadcasts.
  2. In the Message Broadcasts list, click New.
  3. Enter information for the broadcast message as described in the following table.

    4. NOTE:  You must select the Briefing Bulletin check box for the message to appear in the New Bulletins section of the My Briefing page.

    Field
    Comments
    Severity
    Select the Severity of the message: Normal, High, Urgent, or Urgent with Alert. Normal is the least severe and Urgent with Alert is the most severe.
    Abstract
    Enter the bulletin's title. Text in the Abstract field appears in bold and can be up to 100 characters.
    Message
    Enter the text of broadcast message. This text appears as the body of the bulletin and can be an unlimited length.
    Recipient
    To send the bulletin to a specific group of users, click the Select button, and then in the dialog box that appears, select or add the users you want to receive the bulletin.
    Division
    To send the bulletin to users in a specific Division, click Select button, and then in the dialog box that appears, select or create the Divisions you want to receive the bulletin.
    All
    Select the All check box to send the bulletin to all users.
    Activation Date/Time
    Select the activation date/time for the bulletin.
    If you do not define these dates, the bulletin is published from the current date until the message is deleted from the Siebel database.
    Expiration Date/Time
    Specify the date on which the bulletin will be published and when it expires. If these dates are not defined and the bulletin is flagged for publication, the bulletin is published from the current date until it is deleted from your Siebel application.
    Broadcast
    Select this check box to make the bulletin available for broadcast.
    Briefing Bulletin
    Select the Briefing Bulletin check box if you want the bulletin to appear on the scrolling message bar in other Siebel applications. If the bulletin check box is not checked, the bulletin appears only in the Briefing page applet.
    Created
    The date and time the bulletin was created is automatically entered in this field.
    Created By Name
    The creator's name is automatically entered in this field.

For more information about Message Broadcasting, see the "Message Broadcasting" chapter in Applications Administration Guide.


 Siebel eBriefings Administration Guide 
 Published: 18 April 2003