Help

1. Login to the portal
2. Click on your username at the very top left corner of the page OR the MyPage link under MyPortal in the left hand column. This will take you to your "MyPage"
3. Click on MyPreferences link (second to the last link in the right hand column). Click on the link.
4. Enter your desired password, again to confirm, then click "submit".

1. Go to the Impact Alliance siteClick on your username link in the very upper left hand corner
2. This will take you to your “MePage”. Click on “MyPreferences” in the bottom right-hand corner
3. The last option on the succeeding page is your default language for the entire portal. Change it accordingly and click “Submit”

1. Login in to the portal (guests cannot Add Knowledge)
2. Go to the exact area in which you want the KO to appear
3. Click on the Add Knowledge Object link in the right-hand column
4. Choose the appropriate type of KO from the list (such as "document" or "website"...picking “Topic” will add a folder to the current area) and click “Add”
5. Fill in the appropriate fields. Title/Name and Short Description are the only required fields. Enter long descriptions/abstracts or content in the Long Description field.
6. Do not alter Template or Theme, please!
7. Click Finish (note: this is the only way to save your information. If you close this screen, you will lose your information!)
8. Your screen will refresh and show you the new KO you have added.

Edit your business card

1. Login to the portal using your username and password
2. Click on either your username at the very top left-hand side of the page or the link My Page about halfway down the left-hand column (they both go to the same place)
3. You will be taken to your Me Page.  On the right hand side, you will see a link entitled My Business Card. Click on it.
4. You will be taken to your Business Card page.  Scroll down the page. On the left hand side you will see a section in the column called Tools.  Click on the link that says Edit.  A second window will appear.  This is called your Edit Screen.  It will be full of input boxes. Each input box corresponds to a piece of information that will display on your business card.  The title of that piece appear in bold to the left of the input box.  Just fill out the information as you see fit…address and other contact information is near the bottom of the page.
5. When you are finished, click “Finish” at the very bottom right-hand corner.  Don’t hit Cancel or close this window or your work will be lost! 
6. Once you click Finish, the Edit Screen will disappear and your Business Card page will refresh, consequently showing the changes you have made.  You can return and Edit this information at any time, as often as you like.  We encourage users to fill this out as completely as possible so others on the Impact Alliance portal can learn about you and the work you do.  

Edit an existing Knowledge Object

1. Login to the portal (guests cannot Edit Objects)
2. Go to the exact page of the KO
3. Click on the Edit Object icon (the “pencil” icon)
4. Choose “Edit this page” from the list
5. Modify the appropriate fields for the KO
6. Click Finish to save your changes

1. Login in to the portal (guests cannot start or participate in a discussion)
2. Go to the exact page of the KO you wish to talk about (this may be a whole Topic area or an individual KO)
3. Go to the Section Bar on the right hand side of the page and click Discussions
4. Click on the name of the discussion to join, click on “Start a new discussion thread” to begin a tangential discussion related to that thread, or click on “Add discussion forum” to start an entirely new discussion on the KO.
5. Fill out the appropriate fields.
6. Click on “Subscribe to email list” if you would like to receive all posts to this discussion to your email Inbox (including attachments; also allows you to post from email).

Add Knowledge - Uploading a Knowledge Object to the portal.
Chief Editor - The overall portal authority of the Impact Alliance website. Responsible for content, management, and decision-making for the portal.
Filter - An advanced search that allows the user to enter keywords and other criteria to search Knowledge Objects on the portal. Find it under "Tools" or near the KO in question.
Guests - Guests are individuals who have not created an account at the Impact Alliance portal site. Guest are still free to browse all public content (about 80% of the site), but may not add a Business Card or Knowledge to the site.
Knowlege Object - Any single electronic piece of information found on the Impact Alliance website, such as a document, book, website, best practice, presentation, etc.
Member - An individual or organization that has applied for membership and been accepted by the Impact Alliance [read more]. Members enjoy many benefits that Registered Guests do not.
Partners - Members of the Impact Alliance who have received a special invitation to participate even more fully in the Impact Alliance [read more].
Portal - The Impact Alliance website.
Registered Guest - Any individual who has requested and successfully created an account [do so here]. Registered Guests receive several benefits over Guests such as a Business Card for contact information and the ability to participate in threaded discussions. Anyone may create a Registered Guest account.
Simplify - The web-based application that runs the Impact Alliance portal.
Tomoye - The makers of Simplify.
Topic - A folder or directory containing Knowledge Objects. Topics are usually created around thematic areas and may also have any number of sub-Topics. Navigate the Topics by using the Simplify Explorer on the upper-left hand side of the page, the navigation options at the top of the page, or the site map button at the top right corner.

- If too many (or too few) knowledge objects are being displayed on every page, you can change it by going to My Page > myPreferences and changing the number that appears in the Pagination Value box. It will change the number of items appearing for each KO type (books, websites, etc.) and either increase or decrease the number of pages you see for those knowledge objects.

- You can change your beginning homepage. Write down the Page ID number of the page you want your homepage to be (it's in small type at the bottom of the first column of almost every page...for instance, this page ID is 1945) and go to My Page> myPreferences. Enter the Page ID of the page you wish to make your homepage in the box entitled "Homepage".

- You can bookmark any page in the portal so that it shows up every time you login. Go to the Bookmark box in the lower left-hand column and click “Add Bookmark” when you are on the page you like.

- If you know HTML, you can format your KOs in the Add Knowledge or Edit fields.* Simplify recognizes most HTML formatting commands. You can also copy and paste most text items directly into these form boxes as well.* Please, no Javascript or DHTML!

- Sick of the smiley face? You can add your personal picture by Editing your Business Card (pictures must be .gif or .jpg, 100x100 pixels).

- You can spice up most pages with the addition of a picture (.gif or .jpg), added during the Add Knowledge or Edit Object process. The picture will automatically be added in the upper right-hand corner of the text area.