First Login to ConfTool, System Setup and Vital Tests

FIRST LOG-ON

If everything went right, ConfTool should now be up and running. Please use a
Web browser and enter the URL you chose in your httpd configuration file, e.g.

http://www.yourdomain2006.org/conftool/

You should get to the login page.

The database initialization also installed some standard settings as well as a
standard administration user. The initial username of that user is "admin," the
password is also "admin." Now, please log on as administrator, go to "User Data" and change the password for the "admin" user and set the correct email address.

Registration of new users can be done at the same address, where you just logged in as administrator. However, new users naturally do not have administrator rights.

Setup of Conftool

First the main parameters like the conference name are to be defined. This can be done in "Settings" => "Main Setup".

Secondly the e-mail parameters and the dates for phases of your conference (Submission, Review, Final Upload, Registration for Participation etc.) should be defined. We strongly recommend to deactivate currently unneeded parts of the system! For example, it doesn't make sense to allow entering reviews or to access the review results while the submission is still in progress, or to allow registration for conference participation (as the program and prices of the conference are most likely not defined yet).

Furthermore, you should define possible topics for papers (and reviewers). If the topics are well elaborated, assigning papers to reviewers will be much easier.

We recommend that you now enter all reviewers as "new users" with name, surname, e-mail and (dummy) password yourself. Initially, this is some work, but it will help contacting the PC members by mail and avoid later headaches with "busy" PC members who don't register themselves. When you enter such members, you should also set their status to "Member of the program committee (reviewer)". Now you can use the function "Send E-Mails" to contact all PC members and ask them to complete their personal data (like their address) and also select their special topics.

In our own experience, this is probably the most efficient procedure. Be prepared that some PC members will also forget to register for participation
later. (They can/should of course use the same user account.)

When the conference program and prices are established, you can define the
conference registration data in the "Settings" menu as well. Please enter the
data step by step as defined in that menu. This part of the ConfTool is fairly
complex, but if you follow the steps, you should not experience complications.

IMPORTANT: Please schedule all possible events (tutorials, workshops etc.) and services (social evening, extra proceedings, cups, t-shirts etc.), before
people can register for the conference. Although it is possible to add further
events later, we strongly discourage to do this, as e.g. participants can not
modify their registration data themselves (because registrations are binding).

All other features are explained in the tool itself. If you encounter any
problems or have suggestions, please let us know.

IMPORTANT TESTS!

The following settings can cause problems and should be tested carefully:

1. Is the mail server configuration correct?
This can easily be tested by using the function "Forgotten your password?"

2. Does the up- and download of papers work well?
   Try to submit a (big!!) paper and to download it afterwards.
   If you are using https, please also check, if you can download
   papers using the Windows Internet Explorer, as all current versions
   have a serious bug in the https implementation. ConfTool has corresponding
   workarounds, however, they require that your PHP configuration does not
   explicitly prevent the caching of files by the browser.

3. Are all parameters set correctly?
Please create test user accounts and check all functions (i.e. submission,
reviewing and registration).

If you have problems, plaease check your settings with info.php and look at the FAQs before sending a mail to us!

May You Do Well!

We wish you a successful conference and hope to get a lot of constructive
feedback regarding ConfTool.

Harald Weinreich