The World Wide Web (Internet) provides an amazing way to present and
share information. An Intranet (internal Internet) enables the tools
used to browse the Internet to be used on a private website where you
control who has access to it and to various sections of it.
This provides a simple way to get the information maintained both in ICommander Accounting Systems and via various new Information Management Tools in ICommander (such as File Manager) out to members of your organization. It also enables use of various Intranet Only functions, such as the In/Out Board and Event Calendar installed as part of your starting Intranet.
Any site using a Redhat Linux Server for ICommander (which almost all of our multi-user sites are now using) already has the tools to activate a Web Server (Apache) installed. ICommander support staff handle the technical aspects of getting your private Internet activated. The Implementation and Support process to let you begin managing this powerful extension to your internal electronic communications is discussed in more detail below.
Sites presently running ICommander on a Windows System have the option to install a Redhat Linux Server that will utilize your existing ICOBOL and ICommander Windows License ("Cross" License). This is an inexpensive way to bring the capabilities of both ICommander File Manager and an Intranet to your organization. The Redhat Linux Server can be a new PC but an older PC not currently in use may be converted to run Linux, if you wish to minimize the cost.
A 2006 article on the the SmartBiz.com website discusses the value of an Intranet for small organizations and is available in PDF form here. Nearly everyone uses the Internet in various ways today. ICommander lets you easily implement its private use by your organization.
The integration of ICommander Accounting Software with an Intranet was developed primarily as an extension of the ability of the software to output accounting information. A private Internet provides a familiar way to provide access to ICommander information to managers and others who do not use ICommander itself. ICommander has a myriad of ways to easily publish reports to your Intranet and to generate web pages using the powerful ICommander File Manager. These are discussed in more detail under another topic.
Publishing ICommander Information to your Intranet should prove to be a very useful extension to furnishing accounting information to your staff. However, once you have the Intranet in place, you now have available most of the same capabilities you work with on the World Wide Web. This opens up all sorts of possibilities beyond publishing accounting reports. ICommander installs some useful examples of such possibilities in the form of a shared Event Calendar and In-Out Board and shared access to various types of information. Hundreds of programs are freely available to add additional functionality.
Maintaining your new Intranet is primarily via various ICommander tools and functions. This enables simple management of this powerful information sharing mechanism.
Implementation and Support
The same ICommander staff members who assist with implementing and supporting the ICommander Accounting Software systems will implement your Intranet. This includes activating the Apache Web Server and setting up your Intranet home and other pages. They will also show you how to manage the Intranet and get information onto it.A starter Home Page is installed along with a number of example pages with different layouts and navigation methods. A new ICommander System is added to enable use of ICommander File Manager to manage Home Page Content and Other Pages as well as various configuration files. A starter Event Calendar and In-Out Board are also installed.
ICommander staff will then work with one or more of your staff members to train them how to use ICommander File Manager to maintain the Home Page and Other Content. Configuration of various options will be discussed and your staff will then be shown which options they may change directly and how. A starter links area will be installed and made available to ICommander File Manager as will an example shared email addresses area. ICommander Staff will also demonstrate both how to update both and how to easily create your own shared email area. You will also be shown how File Manager may then be used to convert the Directories and Files into live Intranet Web Pages. When changes are made via File Manager, just regenerate the Web Page, review, and then replace in the Intranet area.
Options for converting standard ICommander Reports and Free-Form Data Extraction output to Intranet Web Pages will also be covered. This will include both routing to static Intranet Web Pages with links to each report and table and the option to route to a directory available to the Intranet and then using an ICommander provided CGI Script to automatically create a Web Page with all reports in a directory in a table with some unique presentation capabilities to maximize usability.
You will also be shown how File Manager may also easily be used to create a Photo Gallery for your Intranet. This includes using the File Manager Notes about Files and Directories to automatically generate formatted descriptions of each photo gallery and any particular photos. Accessing the Photo Gallery from your Intranet is simply a matter of adding a link on your Home Page or elsewhere that points to the starting directory where the photo or other images are stored. This link will utilize an ICommander provided set of CGI Scripts to automatically build the Photo Gallery Web Pages and the notes or Comment Pages. The extensive File Transfer options available in ICommander File Manager may be used to upload files directly from your PC or a CDROM. You may also copy into your my_trfrs and from there to the Photo Gallery Directory (most efficient to use File Manager to zip MANY image files into one Zip File and then use File Manager to move the Zip File to the Photo Gallery Directory and unzip it there).
The Notes about a Photo Directory or an individual Photo may include HTML tags. This allows formatting the presentation when viewed as a web page to be very attractive. One of the standard links on Tools Menu Item on the starter ICommander Home Page is to "ICommander HTML Basics". This is a web page with a series of examples of using various HTML tags for centering, indenting, highlighting, drawing boxes, etc. It includes the HTML tags used followed by their results. The examples here should enable you to easily see how different effects are achieved. You may be surprised how simple it is to apply the power of HTML formatting via your browser.
It is likely that a number of training and assistance sessions with ICommander Staff will be needed. There are many options and you will need some time to decide on how you want your Intranet to function. If your staff is comfortable with maintaining the Intranet files on their own, much of the maintenance may be done without onsite assistance. Otherwise, ICommander Support Staff will assist with much of the initial layout and configuration and then concentrate training on those areas where continued attention is required. Adding and removing staff members from the In-Out Board, routing reports and other output to the Intranet, and updating active sections of your Home Page (such as when you include a News & Events link) would be the primary ongoing maintenance.
Maintaining Intranet Web Pages
ICommander File Manager is used for maintaining Intranet Web Pages. This takes authorized users directly to each applicable area so there is no need to fully understand how the Apache Web Server area is structured and how it locates web pages.If you have never worked with HTML Files, you will be surprised how simple it is to compare the source HTML text to a web page it produces and quickly catch on to what you need to change to update an existing link or to add a new one. File Manager uses the powerful Vim Editor for maintaining the HTML source. You will need to learn a minimal number of Vim commands for yanking and pasting/putting text, replacing, searching, etc. but this should take only a few minutes. ICommander Standard Help Topics has a PDF Reference that covers the basic commands you will need (and several others for more advanced use).
Adding a new web page is also very simple using File Manager. Just pick some existing page with the type of layout you would like and the use File Manager to make a copy of it under a new name. Then edit the HTML source to change the title, headings, content and links. File Manager lets you open the new page via your Browser so you may easily review whether you are getting the desired results before you actually make the page available to your Intranet.
Once your new page is created, add a link to it on your Home Page or on some other page using File Manager and then you will be able to access it from the Intranet.
As noted in connection with using HTML tags for formatting notes about photos in a Photo Gallery, the "ICommander HTML Basics" available from the Tools menu on the Home Page provides many examples for mastering HTML for various format options. It also has examples of how to insert images, build tables and listings, and various other options such as centering, changing fonts, drawing lines and boxes, etc.
If your main use of the Intranet will be the Home Page with various content shared with ICommander and you use the ICommander CGI Scripts for automatically generating a web page index of directories with HTML reports and/or image or photo galleries, the need to create and maintain complete web pages will be minimal. Don't be afraid to try it, though. The results are instantaneous once you edit an HTML File and then have ICommander File Manager open it as a Graphical Web Page. You can't break anything while experimenting. ICommander tools let you maintain a very useful and dynamic Internal Internet without needing to call on and pay for web development specialists.