April 2013 News

25 March 2013

Welcome to the April 2013 edition of the Engineerica newsletter.  In this issue: Visit our new Facebook page to put "a face to the voice" you hear when you call us, tell us what you would like to see in the upcoming AccuTrack/AccuSQL release, learn how to add text messaging to your Accudemia, AccuTrack, or AccuSQL software and much more!  Here is an index of the topics:

Put a Face to the Voice with Engineerica's New Facebook

We have good news for Facebook users out there: Engineerica is now on the social network.  Just click the link below to visit our page on Facebook.  Like us, Friend us, and spread the word; Engineerica has a Facebook page!  Here you can find out about the events we have participated in, see the corporate history and mission statement, view photos/bios of our staff, and learn helpful tips/tricks about our software products.  The site will be continously updated, so visit us often.  I hope you enjoy the page and we see you soon!

 https://www.facebook.com/Engineerica

 -Mary Oberhelman, National Consultant

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Your Feedback is Still Needed for AccuTrack / AccuSQL Version 13

Work on version 13 of AccuTrack / AccuSQL has started.  We need to know which improvements and new features are most important to you.  Would you help us by visiting the UserVoice feedback site today?  There you can:

  1. Vote for existing ideas proposed by other users.  Ideas with the highest number of votes will have better chance of getting implemented.  You can even let us know why you like a certain idea by adding a comment.
  2. Add your own ideas and vote for them.  Explain how your requested improvement or feature would enhance the software.  Make your case so other users would vote for your idea  

Note that the UserVoice site is the ONLY place AccuTrack developers check when working on new features.  Requesting features verbally while talking to support staff over the phone, online or during a training session is not enough.  Emailing ideas and requests to support does not work either.  So if you want your ideas to be considered, make sure to add them in the right place at the UserVoice site.

UserVoice is quick and easy to use.  If you need help in using the site, watch the 5-minute help video by clicking here. To visit the UserVoice site, use this link: accu.uservoice.com.  Go ahead do it now while you are thinking about it!!! 🙂

-Nick Armstrong, Support Representative

P.S. Accudemia users we did not forget about you and if you have good ideas for the next version please visit accudemia.uservoice.com.

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Thank you for your Great Case Study Submissions!

Thank you again for all of those whom submitted entries of their case study of how their institution uses one of our products!  We found out a lot about how the software directly impacts the day-to-day operations and how the information obtained at each school helps them achieve their goals.  We had 43 submissions - each one unique in the way they use the software showing the flexibility in the products to accommodate various centers.  The submitters used diverse methods of multimedia such as movie clips, various presentation methods, and detailed research papers that made the judging interesting and a heated contest.  Once we had compiled all the results of the judges and announced the winners in the last newsletter, we immediately got started on sending out the awards.  As you can see, our secretary Lauren Solis got lost in a sea of mailers as she went through the process of sending out the winner's prizes and thank you gifts!  This was a fun contest for all of us at Engineerica and we hope that everyone who participated had just as much fun creating their entries!  

-Mon Nasser, Engineerica CEO

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Another Successful Orlando AccuTrack Training

Our last training session in Orlando on March 21 & 22 is over and once again there were some great questions and valuable feedback from our attendees. We are confident our attendees enjoyed the training as much as we enjoyed having them.

These training sessions are a great opportunity to share ideas with other AccuTrack and AccuSQL customers as well as chance to get your questions answered by our experts.

If you were not able to attend the last training session, you can review our AccuTrack/AccuSQL webinars online. These webinars include many of the topics covered in the training session.

Also, you can find out more about the next training in Orlando on July 25 & 26, 2013 and also register online. Remember, the training is included in your Platinum Plus Support Plan.

-David Foster, Support Manager

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Conference Tracker Manages A Large Conference!

Conference Tracker successfully managed a 4-day conference with over 2,500 Attendees and 180 workshops!  After the event there were over 7,500 sign-ins recorded.  Even more amazing: our team only had 2-weeks before the conference start date to go get everything ready!  A big thanks to the educational support provided as well as some timely software improvements that made the management of the conference seamless.  Working with the event organizers to get the conference ready from designing/printing badges, importing the conference data, correctly managing the attendance tracking, and designing/e-mailing certificates took a lot of hard work.  If it was not for the simple yet robust design of Conference Tracker these task may have been extremely difficult to accomplish.

If you have a need to track attendance at an event or conference or if you know someone with this need, please contact us to see what Conference Tracker can do.

-Nick Armstrong, Support Representative

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Tech Tip: Text message your students!

Did you know: AccuTrack, AccuSQL, and Accudemia can all deliver messages and updates to your students via their cell phones!  All you need is to turn on this feature.  Worried about the cost?  Amazingly, it's a lot lower than you might expect (currently two pennies per message for Accudemia and less than a penny per message for AccuTrack/AccuSQL)! 

AccuTrack users:  To use SMS, you must first setup a messaging account with either Skype or Nexmo.  The latter is recommended because of its lower cost.  You can start with a test account with complimentary test credits.  If you like it, you can then use your credit card to purchase more credits.  See below for setup instructions.

Accudemia users:  To use SMS, all you need is to contact us to get AccuCredits.  You can get 200 complimentary credits to test the service.  If you like it, you can purchase more credits.  See below for setup instructions.

AccuTrack/AccuSQL Users:

  1. Sign-in as a System Admin.  Go to Setup > Options and click SMS Configuration.
  2. Select your Service Provider (Nexmo or Skype)
  • To Use Skype:
  1. Just select this option and save.
  2. Must install the Skype client on that computer in order for this option to function.
  3. Check the box "Send SMS reminders from this computer" at the bottom left edge of teh Options screen.
  • To Use Nexmo:
  1. Visit www.nexmo.com to get your messaging account.  You can get a complimentary account for testing.
  2. Enter your Nexmo Key, Secret password, and “From” information.
  3. You can send a test message once you have the information filled in.

Additional options for both Skype and Nexmo:

  • Enable sending SMS in Waiting List and Intake System.
  • Enter a country code if needed.

Accudemia Users:

  1. Go to Administration> Control Panel> Appointments, and at SMS Notifications section enable this option.
  2. The system user sending messages are allowed to send SMS messages to anyone in your College. You must have the students cell phone number in Accudemia because this feature uses the cell phone number of the User's Profile.

-Nick Armstrong, Support Representative

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