Akvo Training

From Akvo Labs

Self-guided tour of an Akvo project page

Take a brief walk through an Akvo project page.

Akvo Really Simple Reporting user categories

This section of the Akvo Training programme explains how different users interact with the Akvo Really Simple Reporting system. To register as a user you must be a member of an Akvo partner organisation; for more information on becoming a partner, read the partner rules.

To find out more on completing certain tasks in RSR, follow the links to specific Akvo HOWTO pages.

There are three different types of RSR user accounts. Each has its own set of permitted tasks:

• RSR User - can add updates to his/her organisation's projects, and comments on any project in Akvo.
• RSR Project Editor - can do everything an RSR User can, plus edit project information.
• RSR Organisation Administrator - can do everything an RSR User and Project Editor can, and is responsible for activating users, promoting user accounts to Project Editor or Organization Administrator, and creating new projects for his/her organisation.

The table below lists the different tasks accessible to each type of user.

Akvo RSR User

This is the most basic type of account. You can (and are encouraged to) add updates to your organisation's projects. You can also make comments on any project, perhaps to encourage the team or offer advice.

If you have an RSR user account you can create an Akvo Widget. The Widgets allow you to place information about a project from Akvo RSR on another website. You can read more about Akvo Widgets on our FAQ pages.

Akvo RSR Project Editor

Project editors are the folks in an organistion who are responsible for entering and maintaining high level and detailed project descriptions, budget information, sustainability plans, etc.

Akvo RSR Organisation Administrator

Figure 1. The 'Organisations' link in the RSR Administration page. Click on the picture for full size.

Figure 2. The 'Add' link in the RSR Administration page. Click on the picture for full size.

Figure 3. The 'Projects' link in the RSR Administration page. Click on the picture for full size.

Figure 4. The 'Is Published' column in the Projects listing page. Click on the picture for full size.

Figure 5. The 'User Profiles' link in the RSR Administration page. Click on the picture for full size.

Figure 6. The 'Change User Profile' page in the RSR Administration page. Click on the picture for full size.

Organisation administrators are the individuals with overall responsibility for their organisation's work in RSR. An Organisation administrator account can be set up for you when your organisation registers as an Akvo partner.

Logging in to the RSR administration pages

Once you have obtained an Organisation Administrator username and password, you have access to the RSR Administration pages. To log in, click on 'Admin' at the bottom of the Akvo RSR pages or enter http://www.akvo.org/rsr/admin in your web browser. This is also shown in this explanatory video. Enter your user name and password, and click 'Log in'.

Entering information about your organisation into Akvo RSR

Once you are logged in to the RSR Admin pages, you can add information about your organisation such as what its goals are, where it operates and how it can be contacted. Click 'Organisations' on the list (see Figure 1), then click on your organisation name. Add or edit the information, then click 'Save' at the bottom right of the page. This is also shown in this explanatory video.

Creating a new project

When you are logged in into the RSR Administration pages you can create a new project by clicking the 'Add' button next to the 'Projects' link (see Figure 3). When you are done filling in the project information, click 'Save'. For more details, see this explanatory video.

When the project is saved, you will be returned to the listing of your organisation's projects. The new project will be at the top, and its Akvo reference (ID) number will appear next to it. At this point the project is not public, but you and your partners may preview it by entering http://www.akvo.org/rsr/project/ID/ into your web browser.

Requesting publication of a project

Once your organisation and partners are happy with how the project is presented in Akvo RSR, you can request the project be published by sending an email to Akvo staff. Projects are only made public after a review by Akvo staff.

To see if a project has been published, click the 'Projects' link (see Figure 3) on the Administration home page. A project listing page opens showing an overview of all projects from your organisation. The column on the right-hand side of the table indicates whether or not a project has been published (see Figure 4).

Creating and enabling a user account

As an organisation administrator you authorize other users in your organisation to use RSR. You also decide their user category: standard user, project editor, or organization administrator.

First, have the new user register up for an RSR account. After the user enters the information for the new account and clicks 'Register', a verification email will be sent to the user address entered to confirm account's existence. The user verifies the registration by clicking the link in the email.

Now the organisation administrator must enable the new user account. The organisation administrator is notified of the user's registration by email. The user account is enabled by following the link in the email to complete the user setup.

Promoting users to Project Editor or Organisation Administrator

To give users more rights, for example the ability to edit project content (Project Editor) or add new projects and manage user accounts (Project Administrator), go to the 'User profiles' page (see Figure 5). When you select a user from the list, the 'Change User Profile' page opens (see Figure 6). There you can select 'Project Administrator' or 'Project Editor', then click 'Save'.

Development

Users and roles