Database Management

The database management is the part of the Meeting Manager where CoCon allows you to manage the delegate database that contains all delegates, groups, etc. The central database contains all data and this database connects to the CoCon Room Server.

To access the Database Management click the button in the Delegates section of the ribbon.

Delegate management functions

When you open the Database management you see the screen below with the following functionality:

1. Click the buttons to Add, Edit or Delete delegates.
2. Put the cursor in the search bar to search for specific delegates, this filters the list while you type your text in the search box. Click the remove icon to clear the search box.
3. Click the icon to select all delegates in the table
4. Click the icon to deselect all items
5. Shows all delegates present in the database. You can sort the delegates by clicking on the column header. If you click once, the contents are sorted alphabetically according to the clicked column. If you click again, the order is reversed.

6. Click the Add button to add a new delegate: this creates an empty delegate. Complete the delegate details in the section on the right of the screen. You can also add delegates by pressing CTRL+N on the keyboard.

7. Click Delete to remove one or more delegates from the database

8. Delegate information: this section of the screen contains all delegate details. Here you can edit or add delegate details.
9. Click to Save changes to delegate information, you can also save by pressing the buttons CTRL+S on your keyboard.
10. Click to Edit the delegate
11. Click to Cancel the changes made to the delegate
12. Click Find to perform an advanced search. A new screen opens where you can fill in different search fields. You can also access this screen by pressing CTRL+F on your keyboard. Click Search in the bottom-right corner to apply your selection criteria. Click Remove filter to clear the filter.
13. Switch between delegate and group view
14. Click Back to close the Database Management-window and return to the Meeting Manager.

Import and export delegates

To access the import and export functionality of the Delegate database, click the Home tab. Three options are available:

• Import from TMS
• Import from ...
• Export to ...

Import from TMS

This function allows you to select a delegate file from the Televic Conference TMS-software and import the delegates contained into the current CoCon database format. The extension of this type of file is .del, but it is actually just a renaming of a .mdb file (MS Access 2003 database). This can also be used to import delegates and groups for users who have a database in a different format.

You can find an example of the expected format of the MS Access database in a sample database located under C:\Program Files (x86)\Televic Conference\CoCon\MeetingManager\TMSImporter\Sample\Sample_100_Delegates.mdb and Sample_100_Delegates.del (or similar for your installation). Be mindful of the following items:

• The names of the tables (“groups” and “delegates”), as well as the column headers should not be changed. The import process uses these fields to identify the enclosed data.
• Note that the input file does not have to be renamed to a .del extension; it can also remain a .mdb format.

Import from …

This button allows you to import delegates from a local file to the central database. Currently, only a proprietary XML-format is defined as file format for importing and exporting delegates. This data format is used when exporting.

Export to …

Using this button, you can export the delegates and groups contained in the database to a local file, which you can later import again (using the button described above).

RFID Badge Reader

With the Plixus engine it is possible to use RFID badges. CoCon is compatible with RFID badges with 4Byte NUID (like MiFare classic and MiFare Plus) and 7Byte NUID.

When using RFID badges, no actual data is written on the badge. Instead, the Unique Identifier of the badge is read and stored in the database. This means that existing RFID applications can still use the entire data contents of the card.

In that case, the “Badge Writer” section of the Delegates-ribbon looks like the following figure:

Figure 1-13 RFID badge writer buttons for RFID badge reader

Connect the USB-RFID reader to the PCrunning the Meeting Manager, and click Refresh readers . At that point, you should be able to see and select the reader in the dropdown menu. Now the following actions are available:

• Select a delegate in the list
• Put a badge on or remove a badge from the RFID reader

With these actions, you can perform the following functions:

• Read a badge that is not assigned to a delegate and create a new delegate

  1. Put a badge on the RFID reader

  2. The selection of the list with all delegates is removed

  3. You can enter the data of the new delegate in the panel on the right.

  4. Click Save when ready. Now a new delegate is created with the badge that was put on the RFID reader.

• Read a badge that is assigned to a delegate:

  1. Put the badge of the delegate on the RFID reader

  2. Now the delegate is selected in the list with all delegates.

• Write an existing delegate to a badge:

  1. Select the delegate in the list with all delegates

  2. Click on the Edit button in the Delegate section of the ribbon, or in the Details-section.

  3. Put the badge on the RFID reader. Now the Unique ID is filled in the “Badge number” field of the delegate.

  4. Click Save. Now the delegate is associated with the RFID badge.

• Remove an existing delegate from a badge:

  1. Put the RFID badge on the RFID reader. The delegate is automatically selected in the list.

  2. Click on the Edit button in the Delegate-section or the ribbon, or in the Details-section.

  3. Remove the badge from the RFID reader. The “Badge number” field of the delegate is cleared.

  4. Click Save. Now the delegate is no longer associated with the RIFD badge.

Authority

This part of the Delegate Management-ribbon allows you to create authority passes. This means that one delegate gives his voting right (and weight) to another delegate for a certain period of time or the duration of a meeting.

Creation of voting authority pass

This section describes how to create a voting authority pass. Click Add authority pass/Delete authority passto create an authority pass, a new window opens. There are 5 steps in the creation of an authority pass:

1. STEP 1: Choose the delegate who grants his voting right to another delegate:

   

2. STEP 2: Choose the delegate who receives the voting authority.

   

3. STEP 3: Choose the authority validation period. This can either be a time period, or the duration of any meeting that was already defined in the system.

   

4. STEP 4: Choose the badge number. An authority badge is defined as a badge that contains only the given voting right of the first delegate. You cannot use this badge for identification, only for voting. After the second delegate has voted, he can insert the authority badge into the system and vote with the received authority. As a consequence, the two votes can differ. The system registers that this is a voting authority pass from the first delegate to the second delegate. If you don’t create an authority badge, this means that the second delegate will vote only once, and that his vote will be his own vote.

   

   If you select the first option (Yes, I want to use an authority badge), you can choose one of the following actions:

• Read: read the badge currently in the selected badge writer. This badge will then be used as the authority badge for the current authority pass.

• Generate: generate a new authority badge and write the relevant information to the badge currently in the selected badge writer.

• Edit: use a previously created authority badge by entering the badge number of the authority badge.

5. STEP 5: Confirm information The last step shows an overview of the entered data and lets you review the data.

   

Authority Visualization

If you select a delegate that has a passed voting authority, you can see the following indications of given and received authority passes in the Delegate Details on the right of the Delegate Management screen:

Figure 1-14 How Authority looks like in the delegate details page

After selection of any of the authorities, you can click the Authority Detail button to see more information about the authority pass between delegates. This is shown below:

Delete authority

After selection of any of the authorities, you can click the Delete Voting authority pass which deletes the selected authority pass.

Important remarks when working with authorities

Note the following restrictions when working with authorities:

• The delegate passing his authority should be in the meeting. He can either be allocated on a seat or not allocated on a seat.

• An authority badge can only be created for a delegate with a badge.

• When using authorities, it is NOT recommended to use the voting participation (see Section 10.9.3.2) option All voting units because this can lead to situations that can be misinterpreted. The reason is that authorities are ignored when working with All voting units because the voting happens on the UNITS, not on the DELEGATES. For working with authorities, it is advised to use one of the other three combinations:

• Delegates with a badge
• Delegates allocated on a seat
• Delegates with a badge or delegates allocated on a seat

• An authority vote will be displayed as shown in the image below: the signage shows the name of the delegate giving his authority followed by [A]. The voting result on the right side of the screen (of the Operator and Signage Application) shows the following info:

• Authority registered: the number of authorities of which the delegate receiving the authority is present in the meeting. This is the same for authorities with and without badge.

• Authorities present: the number of authorities that have declared themselves in this meeting. This means that the authority badge has been inserted.

• Authorities configured without badge are always included here.

• Authorities configured with badge are only included here if the badge has been inserted in this voting session.

• Authorities voted: the actual number of authority votes that have been cast.

  

• An authority vote will be shown on printouts as described here:

• The printout contains the 3 counters of authority votes (registered, present, voted) as well as more detailed info. For each authority vote that has been cast, the name of the delegate giving his authority is shown, followed by [A]. Note that the printout also shows a column with the person casting the authority (“Authority by”).

  

• The printout of an entire meeting will also contain a list of all authorities present in this meeting at the beginning of the printout.

  

Optional fields

The CoCon Delegate Management allows expdanding the delegate information with additional attributes. For this the following part in the ribbon is reserved:

Figure 1-15 Edit optional fields button

When you click this button, a new window opens where you can manage the optional fields.

The screenshot shows a scenario in which two optional attributes defined. The following actions are available:

• New: this creates a new additional attribute. The user can fill in the name of the attribute. After doing that, click the “Save”-button on the bottom right.
• If an attribute is selected, it is also possible to Edit or Delete this field.
• Clear all: this clears all definitions and data of the optional fields.

When finished, close this window by clicking the Close icon in the upper right corner. Then the delegate panel looks like this:

This screenshot shows the two additional fields below all other default fields. Once added, they are treated the same as other delegate data fields.

Groups

Groups are sets of delegates with common attribute(s), they have a common name and a color. Groups can be defined with a great level of flexibility: a delegate can be in none, one or many groups. A group can only contain a delegate once.

The Group page consists of three parts:

1. All Groups: overview of the existing groups (see figure below)
2. Details: details of the currently selected group (in the first column)
3. Unassigned details: this column contains the delegates that are not assigned to the current group. You can add and remove users from a group by dragging and dropping them in these columns.

Figure 1-16 How to manage groups on the Meeting Manager

You can add, delete or change by clicking the corresponding buttons in the Groups ribbon.

The following functions are available here:

• Add: After pressing this button, you can edit the column in the middle of the screen with the data of the group you are creating: name and color. At the top of this column, you can either save this new group or cancel the modification.

• Delete: After selecting a group in the left-hand column, you can press this button to delete it from the database. The delegates contained will not be deleted, only the grouping of these delegates. A verification dialog is shown to prevent errors.

• Edit: After selecting a group in the left-hand column, this button allows you to modify the delegate (name & color). At the top of the column, buttons allow you to save or cancel the modification.

• Find: click the Find button to open the search window where you can specify the following search fields:

• Name or any part of the name

• Color

• Any delegate or set of delegates

After completing the criteria click Search to close this window and filter the list of groups according to the criteria.

• Remove filter: After specifying a filter in the step above, click this button to remove the applied filter.

Assign delegates to a group

Select a group in the All Groups section, then select a delegate from the Unassigned delegates list and click Add to group on top of this column. Alternatively, you can also select one or more delegates in the list of Unassigned Delegates and drag and drop them to the group of your choice to add them to this group.

Remove delegates from a group

After selecting a group in the All groups section, you can remove a delegate from this group by selecting the delegate in the middle column (Delegates in this group), and clicking the button Remove from group on top of this column. Alternatively, you can also select one or more delegates in the list of Delegates In This Group and drag and drop them to list of Unassigned Delegates to delete them.