Features
Introduction
Cicerone is a multi-platform, multi-server, multi-database, web-based corporate information system like no other. Completely web-driven and accessible through any 4.x web browser, Cicerone allows your company to create and maintain information on the fly. It supports any type of file attachment, built in security levels, user and system-wide customizations, automatic import of syndicated news and content, extremely user friendly, and much more.
Cicerone is perfect for community-driven Internet/Intranet/Extranet sites or as a standalone document/content management system. Built on an open-architecture, it can easily be modified and customized to support integration with proprietary software systems. All through your web browser and all in one place!
Content Forums
Unlike other systems, Cicerone automatically creates and maintains a forum for each article. Any one who has at least read access where the cell an article is contained, can post a comment about the article. There is no limitation to the number of threads (that is, replies) or depth. Unlike email replies, you always know what a reply is about by simply looking at the reply and article above it. Comments in the forum can be deleted or edited by the comment author, article author, cell administrator, or channel administrator.
Content Management
Cicerone maintains content on a three-tier system:
- Channels
Channels are top-level content sections. A department or project, for example, can have it's own channel to keep content under. Channels are created by the system administrator and a channel administrator is assigned.
- Cells
Cells are secondary content sections that reside under channels. Smaller projects or clients can have it's own cell. Multiple cells can reside under a single channel. Cells are created by the channel administrator and specify a cell administrator if they wish.
- Articles
An article is the actual content that reside under a cell. Each article can have multiple document attachments and discussion forum threads. Articles are created by users with the appropriate permission levels through a very simple web interface that requires no learning curve - just type and save. Articles can be modified at anytime by the system, channel, or cell administrator - or the original author at anytime through the same interface they use to create the article. Articles can be searched at any time and there is no latency between the time the article is created and when it is available.
Document Attachments
Documents are attached to the articles. Anyone who can create a article can attach multiple documents at the time the article is created. There is no limitation to the number of documents attached to a single article and the author can specify a short description for each document attached to the article. There is also no limitation to the type or size of the document that is attached. Documents can be deleted from and new documents can be added to an article at any time.
Unlike other systems that have trouble supporting multiple documents with the same name, Cicerone gives each document a unique name when it is saved on the server. When a user requests a document, it is sent to them with the correct filename and extension. This allows the system to save all documents in a single directory on the server and the documents are stored on the file system, not in a database, allowing you to easily back them up with any common backup storage utility.
News Monitoring
Cicerone offers the ability to monitor news on your industry or competitor with news from MoreOver.Com. Custom news monitoring can be provided to an individual user, a group of users, or to all users. Users can also create a custom news search through a very simple web interface. News synchronization schedules can be set up by the system administrator. In addition, we have provided a default selection of over 250 news sections that is available to all users. Only a link to the news article is stored in your database and old links are erased each time the news is synchronized.
Cicerone also offers the ability to monitor the stock market. Users can select the ticker symbols and indexes they wish to display on their home page. Quotes are directly from NASDAQ and updated each time the home page is refreshed. The system administrator can also include other content, such as weather and traffic reports to be displayed on user's home pages. All external content can be minimized or removed from the user at any time by using a simple, user-friendly wizard interface.
Security Features
Cicerone has flexible and multiple levels of security for content. For example, a user can be given administrative, read-write, read only, or no rights to a channel or cell. Cell permissions are automatically inherited by default to cells, but can be modified by the channel, cell, or system administrator.
For example, Susan is the Marketing channel administrator. She creates two new cells titled Goals and Collateral. Bob might have read-write access to the Goals cell, but might only have read access to the Collateral cell. Heidi may have read-write access to the Collateral cell, but no access to the Goals cell and therefore it will not even appear to her. Tom has no access to the entire channel and the system will not even show him that a Marketing channel exists.
User Subscriptions
Each user's home page is content-customizable. The system can show the last ten articles posted to selected channels and cells, with direct links to them and the articles themselves. Users can also customize the amount of external content displayed to them, such as stock quotes and syndicated news. Display preferences can be changed at any time through a user-friendly three step "wizard" interface and changes occur immediately. One quick glance at the home page will show the information that is most relevant to you.