Use the Administrator Global Settings screen to edit global and language values for the training system.
To access the Administrator Global Settings screen, click the Globals button the Administrator toolbar:
Use the top portion of the Global Settings screen to configure languages.
Check which of the languages you want to have displayed. If you want to have only a single language available, then check just that one. If you need to swap out graphics, then you'll want to note the number of each language. The graphics for language 0 are in the images_0 directory, the graphics for language 1 are in the image_1 directory, and so forth. Similarly, the report files for language 0 are in the Reports_0 directory, the help files for language 0 are in the Help_0 directory, etc. You will also want to set the desired culture for each of the languages. This affects date and time display as well as the format of the calendar for setting report dates as well as settings like the course Required Completion Date. Finally, you can choose which language to show by default for a new user. The Default Language must be one of the Languages to Display.
The following global settings are available.
The remaining setting cover a large number of settings and customizations. Along the left side are "Yes/No" checkboxes. Along the right side are entry fields, drop-down lists, or numeric controls. Make any changes you desire and then click the Save Data button.
The following is an alphabetical list of the global settings.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Allow 'In Progress' Courses to be Expired | By default, a course cannot be shown as alert, critical, or expired status unless it has first been completed. This in turn means that all of its lessons must have been completed. Check this box if you instead would like a course to be shown as alert, critical, or expired if any of its lessons are in one of these statuses. |
| Allow Custom Organization | This option allows you to pass the organization via a query string. You might do
this if you have your own starting page and want to prevent students from
seeing other available organizations. Students are then prevented from choosing
a different organization. In addition, if there is a .gif file in the /images
directory matching the organization name, that will be displayed in place of
the standard Tracker.Net logo on all pages.
Your link to Tracker would look like this: http://www.vbtrain.net/Tracker4/default.aspx?organization=xyz. Of course, the xyz organization must already have been added via the Organizations screen. The associated logo file would then be xyz.gif, located in the /images directory. Another implication of passing in the organization via query string is that the certificate files are customized by organization. So instead of certificateClass.gif, certificateCourse.gif, and certificateLesson.gif in the /images_0 (images_1 for language 1 and so forth), the file name is certificateClass_xyz.gif, certificateCourse_xyz.gif, and certificateLesson_xyz.gif in the case of an organization named xyz. Note that setting the Match Graphics to Organization property to True will also cause Tracker.Net to use organization graphics for the logo and certificates, if they are available. You may also pass in a custom message via query string if this setting is True. This message is in addition to anything specified in Student Message. Your link would look like this if you only wanted the message: http://localhost/Tracker4/Default.aspx?message=Welcome to My World If you wanted a custom organization and the custom message, you would use a link like this: http://localhost/Tracker4/Default.aspx?organization=xyz&message=Welcome to XYZ Training Note that custom organizations but not custom messages are allowed when using Windows Authentication. In that case, the link would look something like: http://www.vbtrain.net/Tracker4Auth/Default.aspx?organization=xyz See Deploying via Windows Authentication for more information. |
| Allow Student Self-Registration if Open Enrollment Courses Available | This setting controls whether the Register as a New Student button is
displayed on the login page. If this box is checked, then this button will be
displayed if at least one course in the database is set as Open Enrollment.
If this box is unchecked, then the Register as a New Student button
will never be displayed.
Note that this value has no effect when using Windows Authentication. |
| Allow Students Multiple Simultaneous Sessions | Checking this box prevents the same student from logging into the program from
two computers (or browser windows) at the same time. Evaluate carefully whether
you want to choose this option, however, since users who either 1) exit
incorrectly via the "x" on the browser window rather than using the Exit button
or 2) have an error condition in the program or a lesson will find themselves
locked out of the system. The maximum time they can be locked out is controlled
by the Minutes for Duplicate Student Identifiers to Remain in Cache setting.
Administrators can use the Students
Logged In screen to enable a locked out student to log in right away.
If students are inactive in the system for longer than the Minutes for Duplicate Student Identifiers to Remain in Cache setting, then it will still be possible for a student to log in more than once. The most common time that this can occur is when a student is inside a lesson. There is a trade-off between the chance of allowing duplicates and the "lock out" issue described above. |
| Allow Students to Change 'My Courses' Interface | Check this box if you want to allow students to select their desired My Courses interface. The choices are Menu, NavBar, Table, and TreeView. The default is controlled by the Desired 'My Courses' Interface setting. The student's choice is then stored via a cookie and restored each time they return to the My Courses screen. |
| Allow Students to Filter Courses and Lessons | Check this box if you want to allow students to be able to filter courses and lessons on the My Courses screen based on a keyword or completion status. Their filter settings are stored in cookies and restored each time they return to the My Courses screen. |
| Count Failed Lessons Toward Course Completion | Check this box if you want a failed lesson to be counted as complete as far as determining course completion. You might do this if there is no requirement for students to re-take a failed exam, for example. |
| Data Element that Students Must Change | This option works in conjunction with the Force Students to Change Data Element and Default Value for Data Element settings. If Force Students to Change Data Element is set to true, then the piece of student data that you set for the Data Element that Students Must Change will get the Default Value for Data Element setting when an Administrator adds the student. When that student logs in, he will immediately be sent to the My Information screen to change this data element. |
| Default 'For Credit' | Check this option for a global default of credit. Uncheck it for a
global default of no-credit. Background: You can specify whether or not a lesson is taken for credit. A lesson can request this via a "cmi.core.credit" (SCORM 1.2) or "cmi.credit" (SCORM 2004) call. In the Administrator Lessons screen, you can specify a lesson's credit setting as either credit, no-credit, or Use Course Value. If a lesson's credit setting is Use Course Value, then the course's Lesson Credit setting is used. A course's Lesson Credit setting is specified in the Administrator Courses screen. It can be either credit, no-credit, or Use Global Value. If it is Use Global Value, then this global Default 'For Credit' value is used for the lesson. |
| Default Grid Size | This is the number of rows to show on the Administrator and Reporter screens. For first-level screens such as Courses, this number is used as the number of items per page.
For second-level screens like Assign Classes to Students, Tracker subtracts 5 from this number to account for a smaller grid.
This value is also the default in tabular reports of the Reporter or My Reports screens. In this case, it only comes into play when users check the Grid Paging box after those reports are displayed. |
| Default Lesson Location | This value will be displayed as a starting point for the Lesson Locationon the Lessons screen. You might set this if all of your lessons are in a common directory such as ../content. You can then fill in the rest of the URL when you add each lesson. |
| Default Lesson Mode | Select a lesson mode from the dropdown box to use as the default. Background: You can specify a lesson's mode as either browse, normal, or review. A lesson can request this via a "cmi.core.lesson_mode" (SCORM 1.2) or "cmi.mode" (SCORM 2004) call. In the Administrator Lessons screen, you can specify a lesson's mode as either browse, normal, review, or Use Course Value. If a lesson's mode is Use Course Value, then the course's Lesson Mode setting is used. A course's Lesson Mode setting is specified in the Administrator Courses screen. It can be either browse, normal, review, or Use Global Value. If it is Use Global Value, then this global Default Lesson Mode value is used for the lesson. |
| Default Lesson Window Height | This value will be displayed as the Window Height (Pixels) on the Lessons screen when you create a new lesson. You can then edit the value but it is quicker to set the default to your desired height. |
| Default Lesson Window Left Location | This value will be displayed as the Window Left Location (Pixels) on the Lessons screen when you create a new lesson. You can then edit the value but it is quicker to set the default to your desired position. |
| Default Lesson Window Top Location | This value will be displayed as the Window Top Location (Pixels) on the Lessons screen when you create a new lesson. You can then edit the value but it is quicker to set the default to your desired position. |
| Default Lesson Window Width | This value will be displayed as the Window Width (Pixels) on the Lessons screen when you create a new lesson. You can then edit the value but it is quicker to set the default to your desired width. |
| Default Open Enrollment | Check this option to allow students to enroll themselves in the training from
the Login screen by default. Uncheck this option to prevent self-enrollment by default. In either case, courses can override this setting by selecting either Trueor False for its Open Enrollment value. Only when the course has an Open Enrollment value of Use Global Value is this Default Open Enrollment used. Note that this value has no effect when using Windows Authentication. |
| Default Organization | Select an existing organization from the dropdown box to use as the default. This default organization is used when a new student is added, either via open enrollment or by an Administrator. The student or Administrator can then select a different organization if desired. See the Organizations screen for information about adding and editing Organizations. |
| Default User Name | This is the value to add as the user name for a new student. It will need to be customized for each user. |
| Default Value for Data Element | This option works in conjunction with the Force Students to Change Data Elementand Data Element that Students Must Change settings. If Force Students
to Change Data Element is set to true, then the piece of student data
that you set for the Data Element that Students Must Change will get
the Default Value for Data Element setting when an Administrator adds
the student. When that student logs in, he will immediately be sent to the My
Information screen to change this data element. |
| Desired 'My Courses' Interface | Select which interface for the My Courses screen you would like. The choices are Menu, NavBar, One Course, Table, and TreeView. The One Courseis for the special situation where there is a single lesson and course available. In that case, that lesson is launched immediately when the student goes to the My Courses screen. Otherwise, if Allow Students to Change 'My Courses' Interface is checked, students can change the interface, which is then stored via a cookie and restored each time they return to the My Courses screen. |
| Display a Status Window when Building Detail Reports | Check this option to have a popup "Please Wait" animated GIF (named pleasewait.gif) displayed whenever a Student, Course, Lesson, Class, or Organization report is displayed. This setting is most appropriate for very large installations where there is a noticeable delay in generating detail reports. |
| Display All Student Data in Administrator | Check this option to have all the student information set as Requested, Required, or Tracker Required on the Validation and Login Settings screen displayed on the various assignment screen such as the Assign Students to Class screen. This allows administrators to sort or filter students by data such as Department or Organization. |
| Display an Alert Message When Lesson Information Has Been Updated | Check this option to have Tracker.Net display a message after the SCORM LMSFinish or Terminate call has been received. This normally occurs when the student exits a lesson. The advantage of displaying this message is that students know that the system has received their information and that it is safe to start a new lesson. The text of this message can be edited by filtering for the LessonUpdatedAlertMessage_label key on the Language Strings screen. |
| Display Filter Panel Instead of Search Box on Administrator Assignment Screens | Check this option to have Tracker.Net display a Filter interface where each column of the grid is represented on popup assignment screens such as the one used to assign courses to students. To filter, you check the filter box, select the desired column, and then enter your desired text (using * or ? as wildcards). Note that if you check this box then the Filter interface will be displayed instead of the normal Search box at the top right of the grid. The Search box is a bit easier to use but does not provide the ability to limit the search to a particular column in the grid. |
| Email Credentials Domain | This is the domain or computer name that verifies the username and password email credentials. This is often not needed. Some mail servers require a username, password, and (less often) domain in order for a web application like Tracker.Net to send email. |
| Email Credentials Password | This is the password corresponding to the email credentials username. Some mail servers require a username, password, and (less often) domain in order for a web application like Tracker.Net to send email. |
| Email Credentials Username | This is the username for sending email on the mail server. Some mail servers require a username, password, and (less often) domain in order for a web application like Tracker.Net to send email. |
| Exit URL | Enter a valid URL. The Exit URL is the URL shown when the student exits the training with the Exit button on the upper right of Tracker.Net screens. If you leave the Exit URL field blank and you are not using Windows Authentication, the student is returned to the Tracker.Net Login screen when they click the Exit button. If you are using Windows Authentication, then it is important to set this value. Otherwise, students will go to the Options when they try to exit. |
| Force Students Added via Administrator to Change Password | Check this option if you want new students added to the Administrator to be
prompted the first time they log in to change their password.
Note that this value has no effect when using Windows Authentication. |
| Force Students to Change Data Element | This option works in conjunction with the Data Element that Students Must
Change and Default Value for Data Element settings. If Force
Students to Change Data Element is set to true, then the piece of
student data that you set for the Data Element that Students Must Changewill get the Default Value for Data Element setting when an
Administrator adds the student. When that student logs in, he will immediately
be sent to the My Information screen to change this data element.
Note that this value has no effect when using Windows Authentication. |
| Hide Graphics in Exported Word/Excel Reports | Check this option to hide the completion status and certificate graphics when you export reports to Microsoft Word or Excel formats. |
| Include Offline Lessons on the My Courses Screen | Check this option to list offline lessons like books and training classes under their associated courses on the My Courses screen. If displayed, the offline lessons will show their status but will not be enabled. |
| Include Lesson Expiration Anniversary Date in Student Reports | Check this option to include the Lesson Expiration Anniversary Date in student reports. For example, you may want to do this if you name this entry "Hire Date" and want that displayed on various student reports. |
| Match Graphics to Organization | Check this option if you want to match the logo graphic and/or certificate graphics to the student's organization. If the organization name is xyz, then the associated logo file would then be xyz.gif, located in the /images directory. If Tracker doesn't find a graphic by this name, then the default graphic will be used. Similarly, Tracker will look for certificate graphics matching the organization name. So instead of certificateClass.gif, certificateCourse.gif, and certificateLesson.gif in the /images_0 (images_1 for language 1 and so forth), the file names are certificateClass_xyz.gif, certificateCourse_xyz.gif, and certificateLesson_xyz.gif (in the case of an organization named xyz). Again, if Tracker does not find a graphic of the correct name, it uses the default graphic name. |
| Minutes for Detail Reports to Remain in Cache | Student, Course, Lesson, Class, and Organization detail reports are cached by the web server. When the same or another user requests the same exact report (same date range, students, lessons, etc.), that report is displayed from the cache rather than re-generated. This significantly improves performance. However, the longer the time you set for this element, the more potential data (new completion statuses or test scores for example) that could fail to be in the cached report. We recommend that you keep this setting to 10 minutes or less. |
| Minutes for Duplicate Student Identifiers to Remain in Cache | This setting is only relevant if the Allow Students Multiple Simultaneous
Sessions setting is True. This setting prevents the same student
from logging into the program from two computers (or browser windows) at the
same time. Evaluate carefully whether you want to choose this option, however,
since users who either 1) exit incorrectly via the "x" on the browser window
rather than using the Exit button or 2) have an error condition in the program
or a lesson will find themselves locked out of the system. The maximum
time they can be locked out is controlled by the Minutes for Duplicate Student
Identifiers to Remain in Cache setting. Administrators can use the Students Logged In screen to enable a locked out student to log in
right away.
If students are inactive in the system for longer than the Minutes for Duplicate Student Identifiers to Remain in Cache setting, then it will still be possible for a student to log in more than once. The most common time that this can occur is when a student is inside a lesson. There is a trade-off between the chance of allowing duplicates and the "lock out" issue described above. |
| Number of Days Until Student Needs to Change Password | Set this to a number greater than 0 if you want passwords to expire. In that
case, the number of days since the last time the student changed her password
is calculated each time the student logs in. If the number is great than this
setting, the student is sent immediately to the Change Password screen.
If you do not want passwords to expire, set this value to 0. Note that this value has no effect when using Windows Authentication. |
| Number of Minutes until Authentication Expires | Tracker.Net uses Forms Authentication to ensure that only authorized users are allowed into the system. This value determines how long this authentication lasts. It should be set to a number longer than the longest lesson in your system. Other constraints mean that values larger than 300 minutes will likely not have a noticeable effect. |
| Only Allow Supervisors to Add Students of Same Organization | Check this option if you want any students added by a supervisor to be of the same organization as that supervisor. If checked, this will also limit the organizations displayed for supervisors in the Reporter to that supervisor's organization. |
| Prevent Students from Changing Information Other than Password | Check this option to prevent a student from changing user name, last name, first name, or any other information except their password on the My Information screen. If you are using Windows Authentication (and hence cannot change user passwords), this setting means that there is no information that a student can change. |
| Return Address for 'Email User Name and Password' | This option is only relevant if the Show 'Email User Name and Password' setting is True. In that case, this value is the return address for the email reminding the student of her user name and password. |
| Send a Notification Email to Students When Assigned Course Directly | Check this option if you want an email to be sent whenever a student is assigned directly to a course. Only students with valid email addresses defined can receive emails. The reply address of the email is the one defined in the Technical Support Reply Address setting. |
| Send a Notification Email to Students When Assigned Course via Class | Check this option if you want an email to be sent to all members of a class when that class is assigned to a course. Only students with valid email addresses defined can receive emails. The reply address of the email is the one defined in the Technical Support Reply Address setting. |
| Send a Notification Email to Students When Assigned Course via Organization | Check this option if you want an email to be sent to all members of a organization when that organization is assigned to a course. Only students with valid email addresses defined can receive emails. The reply address of the email is the one defined in the Technical Support Reply Address setting. |
| Send Notification Emails Regardless of Status Change | By default, notifications configured on the Notification Settings screen such as Lesson Completed are sent only when there is a status change. So if the student has already completed a lesson and then completes it again, there is no notification email. Check this option if you want a notification email to be sent even when the status is the same as the previous session. |
| Server Timeout | This important setting is the maximum number of seconds that Tracker.Net will take to process longer queries and calculations in creating reports. If you receive an error message when running reports with very large installations, increase this number. |
| Show 'Email User Name and Password' | Check this option to have the feature for emailing a student her user name and
password display on the login screen. The reply address is specified in the Return
Address for 'Email User Name and Password' setting. You can change the
title and body of the email via the title_EmailUserNameAndPassword and Message_EmailUserNameAndPassword keys on the Language Strings screen.
Note that this value has no effect when using Windows Authentication. |
| Show 'Remember User Name' | Check this option if you want to display a Remember User Name option on
the login screen. Uncheck it if you do not want this option available to
students. When the Remember Email at Login option is available on the login screen, a student can check it to store their user name as a cookie on the local machine. This user name will then prepopulate every time the student returns. This can expedite the login process, although the user must still enter their password manually. Note that this value has no effect when using Windows Authentication. |
| Show ALL Reports in Database for "All Levels" Reporter Access | Check this option if you want to reserve the ShowReport column in the Tracker_ReportList table for the display of reports for "Supervisor" Reporter access. Any report with a ShowReport value of 0 will notshow up for supervisors but will show up for "All Levels" access. Leave this box unchecked for the default behavior where a ShowReport value of 0 excludes the report for everyone. Note that there is no interface for the ShowReport column. You need to make this change in the database directly. |
| Show ONLY the Student Summary Report | Check this option to have only a special "Student Summary Report" page be available in the Reporter for those with supervisor access. This page displays student information by class and is therefore only appropriate for those organizations that use classes as the primary mechanism for assigning content to students. If this option is True, the standard Student, Lesson, Course, Class, and Organization report screens will not be available for "Supervisor Reporters." All options with still be available for "All Level Reporters." |
| Show Student Summary Report | Check this option to display a special "Student Summary Report" page in the Reporter. This page displays student information by class and is therefore only appropriate for those organizations that use classes as the primary mechanism for assigning content to students. Unless the Show ONLY the Student Summary Report setting is also True, the "Student Summary Report" page will available along with the standard Student, Lesson, Course, Class, and Organization report screens. |
| Show Technical Support Email Link | Check this option to have a technical support email message and link displayed on each Tracker.Net screen. You can change the text of the message by editing the TechnicalSupportMessage_label key on the Language Strings screen. |
| SMTP Server Name | This value is typically required for any of the email features of Tracker.Net to work correctly. This can be the machine name or the organization's mail server name. If you do not enter a value, then Tracker.Net will use localhost. Note that you may need to set the Email Credentials Username, Email Credentials Password, and (less often) Email Credentials Domain in order for this mail server to allow the application to send email. |
| Sole Student Report | Choose a report from the list if you only want a single report to be available in My Reports. In that case, the report will immediately display and there will be no list of reports available. If you want more than one report available but not all of them, edit the Tracker_ReportList table in SQL Server. To change the names of the Reports, use the Language Strings screen. |
| Store Encrypted Student Passwords | Check this option to store student passwords in encrypted format in the
database. This is highly recommended though it can make importing data from
another application more challenging. Note that Tracker.Net has an import tool
that will perform the encryption for you.
Note that this value has no effect when using Windows Authentication. |
| Student Message | <OPTIONAL> Enter any message you want to display to all students on the
login screen. This message will appear on the login screen prior to login. Note: You may also pass in a message via a query string if Allow Custom Organization is True. See that topic on this page for more details. Note that this value has no effect when using Windows Authentication. |
| Student Name Format String - Reports | <OPTIONAL> By default, student reports displayed via My Reportsor via the Reporter will show the first and last name of the student as in Joe
Smoe. If you want additional information or information in another order, use
this setting. For each desired piece of information, put in brackets like this:
{3}. This represents item 3 (starting from 0) from the following list: studentId, LastName, FirstName, MiddleInitial, SocialSecurityNumber, Organization, Department, TelephoneNumber, Email, FaxNumber, Telephone2, CellPhone, Pager, Identifier0, Identifier1, Identifier2, Identifier3, Identifier4, Identifier5, Identifier6, Identifier7, Identifier8, Identifier9, Administrator, Reporter, DateIdentifier, EmploymentStatus Note that the list corresponds to the database column name of the information but not necessarily its display name. For example, you might have changed Identifier1_label to be Employee Number on the Language Strings screen. To show the Employee Number in parentheses along with the first and last name, you would use a format string like this: {2} {1} ({14}) This would display as Joe Smoe (1123) Note that you must use the correct brackets and make sure the number is 26 or less. If there is a formatting error, that error will be displayed instead of the Student Name information. |
| Technical Support Email Address | This setting is only relevant if the Show Technical Support Email Link setting is True. In that case, this setting is the email to which technical support emails are sent. |
| Technical Support Reply Address | This email address serves as the reply address both for technical support emails and any notification emails sent when students are assigned to courses. It is therefore relevant if one or more of these settings are True: Send a Notification Email to Students When Assigned Course Directly, Send a Notification Email to Students When Assigned Course via Class, Send a Notification Email to Students When Assigned Course via Organization, or Show Technical Support Email Link. |
| Tracker.Net Graphic Path | <OPTIONAL>. You may specify a relative URL (from the /images directory of Tracker.Net) or a complete URL of a graphic to use for the Tracker logo present on many screens. If you want to permanently show a different logo, you can also just overwrite the trackernet.gif file in the \images directory. If you want different logos for each organization, see the descriptions of the Match Graphics to Organization and Allow Custom Organization topics. |
| Use Ajax Callbacks to Communicate with Database | Check this option to use the default "Ajax callback" method of communicating with the back-end database. Only uncheck this option of you are having some sort of problem with lessons communicating their status via the My Courses screen or under direction of technical support. The Use XmlHttp to Communicate with Database option is only relevant if this option is False. |
| Use Alternative Supervisor Mode | Check this option to limit the display for Administrator Supervisors to the Students screen only. |
| Use Integrated Windows Authentication | Check this option if you are going to use Windows Authentication rather than the default Tracker.Net authentication. It is important that you make sure the system is completely set up as described in the Deploying via Windows Authentication topic before checking this box as afterwards you will no longer be able to log in directly. |
| Use Most Recent Completion Date for Certificates | Check this option if you would like student certificates to display the most recent completion date rather than the first completion date for a lesson, course, or class. |
| Use Tracker.Net version 2 Encryption | Check this option if you would like to use the less secure Tracker.Net version 2 encryption scheme. |
| Use XmlHttp to Communicate with Database | This option is only relevant if the Use Ajax Callbacks to Communicate with Database option is False.
Check this option if you would like to always use HTTP Post (via XmlHttp) for communication with the back-end database. If you are not using the Ajax callback method, Netscape, Mozilla, and Firefox will use this HTTP Post mechanism regardless. If you are deploying via a reverse proxy server, you might need to check this box. Otherwise, you might experiment to see which gives better performance for Internet Explorer. One slight disadvantage of setting this option to True is that Tracker.Net is unable to close lesson windows. If your content does not close itself automatically, you may want to stick with the default communication mechanism of client-side web services. |