9 Configuring News

9.1 About the News Section in RDC

RDC displays news items as links in the News section on the Home page. Your users see the news headlines as soon as they log in to the RDC application.

RDC supports an unlimited number of news items. Figure 9-1 illustrates two links in the News section along with the details that display when the user clicks the link. Note that each news item can include a URL that links to additional information.

You define the headline text, the detailed message, and the optional URL. When defining the news details, you can use substitution parameters to create messages with personalized greetings and changing dates.

Figure 9-1 Reading the Daily News in RDC

Description of ''Figure 9-1 Reading the Daily News in RDC''

9.2 Creating User Roles that Can Define News Items Only

By default, any user with one of the following roles can perform all RDC administrative tasks, including the task of defining news items:

• RXC_ADMIN

• RXC_SUPER

• RXC_SUPER_NOGL

• RXC_DES

• RXC_DMGR

You can also create a different set of roles with limited administrator privileges. For example, you can grant a user the privilege to define news content only. Granting others this one privilege makes it easy to update daily and site-specific news.

Note that the process you use to create the user roles that have privileges to define news content is different from the process for creating the user roles for other administrative privileges. Therefore, you can identify user roles for defining news content that are different from the roles for performing other administrative tasks.

To create or modify the set of user roles that can define news items only: 

1. Log in to the Oracle Clinical database server.

2. Navigate to the Oracle Clinical INSTALL directory.

3. Open the opapb_level_privs_m1.sql file with a text editor.

4. Find the admin_user function.

   • Add the roles that you want to have privileges to define news items.

   • Delete any roles you do not want to have the ability to define news items.

5. Connect to SQL*Plus.

6. Run the SQL script to process your changes:

   START opapb_level_privs_m1.sql

9.3 Creating and Modifying News Items

For each news item, you can:

• Define who sees the news item. You can determine who sees the news item based on a study, a site within the study, a user login name, or a user role.

• Set the dates for when to display the news item.

• Set the priority and sequence of the news item.

• Create a news headline. RDC displays the headline as a link in the News section on the Home page.

• Specify additional details about the news item. When the user clicks the headline link, RDC opens the News Details window, which displays the additional information you entered.

• Specify a link name (button label) and URL that RDC also displays in the News Details window.

9.3.1 Accessing the Form for Defining News Items

To access the form for defining news items: 

1. Open the RDC Administration application.

2. Navigate to RDC Admin, Maintain, and then select News.

   The system opens the News Definition for Remote Data Capture form. See Figure 9-2.

Table 9-1 describes the fields in the News Definition for Remote Data Capture form.

Figure 9-2 News Definition for Remote Data Capture Form

Description of ''Figure 9-2 News Definition for Remote Data Capture Form''

Table 9-1 Fields in the News Definition for Remote Data Capture Form

Field Name	Description
Study	Specifies the name of the study for which you want to make the news item available. To specify all studies, enter % (percent sign).
Site	Specifies the name of the site for which you want to make the news item available. The site must be in the specified study. To specify all sites in the specified study, enter % (percent sign). If you specify % in the Study field, then you must specify % in the Site field.
User	Specifies the user name to which you want to make the news item available. To specify all users, enter % (percent sign).
Role	Specifies the role to which you want to make the news item available. To specify all roles, enter % (percent sign).
From Date	Specifies the date (inclusive) to start displaying the news item.
To Date	Specifies the date (inclusive) to stop displaying the news item.
Priority	Defines the importance ranking for the news item. Priorities range from 1 (highest) to 9 (lowest). Use the Priority field, along with the Seq# field, to order the display of the news items. See Section 9.3.2, "Priority and Sequence of News Items" for more information.
Seq#	Defines the sequence, or placement, order of the displayed news items. The sequence value is either 1 or 2. Use the Seq# field, along with the Priority field, to order the display of the news items. See Section 9.3.2, "Priority and Sequence of News Items" for more information.
Title	Specifies the headline text of the news item. RDC uses this text in the following places: For the link that displays in the News section on the Home page For the News title that displays in the News Details window See Figure 9-1 for an example.
News	Provides the detail content of the news item. RDC displays this information in the News Details window. You can specify one or more substitution parameters to customize and personalize news items. See Section 9.3.3, "Substitution Parameters for News Items" for more information.
Button	Provides a text label for the link that RDC displays in the News Details window.
URL	Specifies the URL that RDC displays in the News Details window. Users can click the URL to link to additional information.

9.4 Querying News Definitions

In the RDC Administration application, you can also navigate to Query and then select News to access the News Definition for Remote Data Capture form in query mode. This option lets you access and view — but not add or modify — news items that are defined for studies in the database.