User's Guide To Parent-Teacher Hotline
Advertisement
A promotional or sales-oriented speech recorded and paid for by the sponsor of the Advertisement. The caller hears this advertisement when they call into your Parent Teacher Hotline system. The Advertisement is housed in the "Advertisement" tree object.
Advertisement Spots
The time slot for an Advertisement that you sell to local merchants and businesses. These groups or organizations are known as 'Advertisement Sponsors'.
Advertiser
Any merchant, person, or organization that purchases an Advertisement Spot from you.
Advertiser ID
Also called 'Ad ID'. This is the number that the program assigns to an Advertiser and their Advertisement. The Advertiser uses this number to remotely access their Advertisement for recording.
Advertiser Password
This is a number that the Advertiser uses to access their Advertisement. You may assign this number to the Advertiser.
Advertising
The part of the Parent Teacher Hotline program that allows you to play Advertisements that are sponsored on your system by Advertisers.
Advertising Groups
These are groups of Advertisements in the system. The Advertisements within a group play in rotation, so that each Ad in the group gets equal airing time. Ad groups may contain as few as one Advertisement, or as many as you wish.
Advertising Message
This is the written script for the actual advertisement that the caller hears.
Announcement
An informative speech that plays when a caller calls in. The Announcement speech is housed in the Announcement tree object. The Announcement speech is recorded by the System Administrator, and is typically a weather or news report.
Announcement groups
Announcement groups are groups of Announcements that share the same Prompt. Callers normally access these Announcements through the Prompt by making a selection.
Application
An application is something you design, build, or otherwise modify so that it does what you want it to. We design programs, while you design applications.
Application Variant
This is a copy of the Parent Teacher Hotline application. The variant works exactly as the original application except for the Tree Structure.
Button
A Button is anything that appears raised in relation to the surface of the Application Window. Buttons are typically square or rectangular. You "press" a button when you click on it with the mouse.
Caller
Someone calling into the system, who may or may not be a client. They may call in to hear the Announcements or to change their Announcements.
Chaining
This is a feature that allows you to link one CBSI Phone application to another.
Clipboard
This is a temporary storage area in Windows. In the context of this application, you may copy speech files to the Clipboard so that you may edit them.
Commit
In the context of this application, this is a finalizing procedure. To 'Commit' is to finalize and save changes
to the system's structure.
Conference Calling
Conference Calling is a service that your phone company may offer that allows you to be called by one person, and you can put that person on hold and call a second person. Then you can take the first person off of hold, and all three of you can talk. The thing that is important though, is that, with conference calling, you could hang up and the other two people would still be connected.
Control
A graphic representation on a box that you use to perform a function or feature. A control may be a field, check box, or button.
Copy
To 'Copy' is to make a duplicate of something. Within the Parent Teacher Hotline application, you would first select an object (or objects) to copy and then select the Copy option from a menu or with a Short Cut Key. The copied item then transfers to the Paste Buffer.
CPU
Central Processing Unit. This is the thinking brain of your computer.
Cut
To 'Cut' is to remove something from an area of the screen. Within the Parent Teacher Hotline application, you would first select an object (or objects) to cut and then select the Cut option from a menu or with a Short Cut Key. The item disappears from its previous location, then transfers to the Paste Buffer.
Default
Any preset or pre-selected item, control, or field. Most commonly, the default setting of a control is the normal or recommended setting.
Delete
To 'Delete' is to remove something and then discard it. Unlike the 'Cut' function, a copy is not placed on the Paste Buffer. Generally, a Delete is permanent.
Flash
To "Flash" someone in the context of phone calls, is to press the button that takes that person on or off of hold. If you have call waiting, you flash someone every time you press the hang up bar to put them on hold and answer the call waiting beep.
Highlight
To 'Highlight' is to show that you intend to perform an operation on an item, perhaps a Cut or Copy. Highlighting is also called 'selecting' when you choose an item in a menu or an object in the tree. Within Windows, an item or text is highlighted when it appears as light colored text on a dark background.
Icon
An Icon is a graphic representation of a application in Windows. The icon is typically composed of a small picture along with the name of the application below it.
Local Phone
The phone that is connected to your computer. It is this phone that you use to record your system speeches. Also, callers use this phone number when calling into your system.
Mailbox
A Mailbox is a tree object that plays a speech then records messages that the caller leaves for the Teacher.
Mailbox groups
Mailbox groups are groups of Mailboxes that share the same Prompt. Callers normally access these Mailboxes through the Prompt by making a selection from the Prompt's auto-menu.
Menu Bar
This contains a list of menu headings. Clicking on a menu heading displays the menu corresponding to the selected menu heading. The menu options relate to the menu heading they fall under.
Object ID Number
A number used to identify tree objects in the tree. The ID number of an object is the sum of all touch tones a caller would press to get to that object from the Initial Prompt.
On-Line Help
On-Line means that help is accessible at anytime in the application, unless you're already inside the Help function itself.
Paste
To 'Paste' is to move something from the Paste Buffer to the screen. Typically, you paste the item at the current cursor position or currently selected object.
Paste buffer
A temporary storage area for objects cut from the system tree. The paste buffer stores the objects so you can paste them into another part of the tree.
Place Holder
A special tree object that is only created when you add a Prompt, Announcement, or Control Point that has a multi-digit Relative Touch Tone Number. The system creates Place Holders as required, and you generally don't have to be concerned about them. You will only see Place Holders in the tree while using the Full Expansion viewing method.
Program
In this manual, we are referring to the Parent Teacher Hotline.
Program Group
A Program Group is a group of related applications in your Windows Program Manager. They will all be contained within a single smaller window in Program Manager.
Program Window
The 'Program Window' is the area that a particular program appears in and controls.
Prompt
A speech that signals the caller to do something. For example: the Initial Prompt signals the caller that they should enter a touch tone to choose the Announcement they want to hear. The Prompt speech is housed in the Prompt tree object.
Prune
To 'Prune' is to delete or remove an item or section from the system tree. Unlike the 'Cut' function, a copy is not placed in the Paste Buffer. Generally, Pruning is permanent.
Reference Number
In Remote Access, this is the object's absolute ID number.
Remote Access
This simply means that you may access your Parent Teacher Hotline application from an area other than your computer (in this case, by phone).
Short-Cut Key
A 'Short-Cut Key' is a single key or key combination that selects or performs an operation without using the mouse.
Speech
A verbal message, recorded in an object in this application. A Speech may be a Prompt or an Announcement.
System
Your computer, while running the Parent Teacher Hotline application. It's a neat little technical term to impress your clients, and it's also more convenient than saying 'Your computer, while running the Parent Teacher Hotline application.'
System Administrator
You, the Center Owner. You call the shots, decide how much to charge advertisers, decide when the system is operating, etc. This application is your domain. Your word is law here.
System Editor
The Parent Teacher Hotline System Editor allows you to modify the way that your Parent Teacher Hotline application works. This is where you design, build, and edit your Parent Teacher Hotline system.
System Tree
When we say 'Tree' or 'System Tree', we're referring to the structure of your Parent Teacher Hotline application as it appears in the System Editor. As a tree has branches, so does the structure of your Parent Teacher Hotline application.
Tool bar
This contains a list of menu headings. Clicking on a menu heading displays the menu corresponding to the selected menu heading. The menu options relate to the menu heading they fall under.
Tool button ribbon
This is a vertical display of buttons that allow you to edit and modify the tree. These buttons correspond to menu commands located under the menu headings on the tool bar.
Touch Tone Number
In Remote Access, this is the object's Relative ID number.
Touch-Tone Directory
This is a special option you may enable on a Control Point that allows callers to bypass the normal tree structure.
Tree
When we say 'Tree' or 'System Tree', we're referring to the structure of your Parent Teacher Hotline application as it appears in the System Editor. As a tree has branches, so does the structure of your Parent Teacher Hotline application.
Tree Depth
This is simply the number of options under a Prompt. The deeper a list of options is, the better the chances are that the caller will not remember the listed options.
Tree Level
This is a measure of branch complexity in the system tree. The more levels a system tree has, the better the chances are that the caller becomes lost.
Tree object - Announcement
This tree object's basic purpose is to play an announcement or other speech when the caller reaches the Announcement. The Announcement object appears as a small yellow rectangle with an "A" on it.
Tree object - Control Point
A Control Point appears as a small pink rectangle with a "C" on it. Control Points allow you to perform special functions. Its primary function is to 'chain' to another CBSI Phone Application. This means that you may access part of another application through the Parent Teacher Hotline system tree.
Tree object - Initial Prompt
This tree object appears as a small red folder, located directly under the System Greeting. Normally, you record instructions for callers using the system, onto this object, as well as a menu of options. This Tree Object is a permanent object in the tree.
Tree object - Mailbox
This object appears as a dark green or brown rectangle with a bright green "M" on it. Its primary purpose is to hold the messages that callers leave for the owner of the Mailbox.
Tree object - Prompt
This object allows you to do a number of things, but its basic purpose is to prompt the caller for a response. A Prompt commonly acts as a menu for the object options under it (i.e. branches coming from this Prompt branch). A Prompt appears as a small green folder.
Tree object - System Greeting
This object appears in the tree in the upper left corner of the Work area (it's that small blue rectangle with an "S" on it). This is the first object in the tree that callers reach when they call into the system. The System Greeting usually contains a speech that welcomes the caller to the system. This is a permanent object in the tree.
Tree Objects
The basic units that appear in the tree, they may do everything from house commands and speeches to enabling functions and features (such as Advertisements). There are four types of tree objects you may use to make your system: Prompts, Announcements, Mailboxes, and Control Points. These three objects allow you to design your entire Parent Teacher Hotline system.
Trial-and-error Method
This is a method of learning in which you experiment with the thing you are learning. If you make a mistake, you correct it and learn from it.
Wave Files
Wave files are a type of file that contains sound recordings. WAVE files have the designation ".WAV" after the file name.
Work area
This portion of the application window displays the existing tree structure for your Parent Teacher Hotline system.