Products
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Products

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Article Summary

MainEvent allows you to recap and report on specific products that you may want to collect data on. Whether you’re selling or sampling, adding products to your site allows you to include product-specific questions on your recaps and reports to get the data points you need from every event.

To begin using Products on your MainEvent site, just follow these instructions.

Adding Products

Using Products on MainEvent starts with adding them and that happens in the Admin section. Click Admin on the navigation menu and select View.

You will now be on the Global Admin page. On the left side of the page, you’ll see the Global Configuration Menu. Under the Products header, click Products.

This will bring you to the Products list. Any previously added products will be visible here.

You will be able to make Edit and Delete products from this menu (covered further in this document). You can also see the Active Status (Yes/No) of all products in the system here. In order to use a product at the Client level you must first add them to the Global site. The product will also need to be in Active status. To add a new product to the site, click Add Product.


You are now on the Edit Product page. Enter the name of the product. You can also select the Active Status here from a Yes/No toggle. The default will be to create the product in active status.  If your program is using integrations, you can select integration fields to assign to the product as well.  

When you’re finished, click Save to add the product. The site will automatically navigate you back to the Products list and you will be able to view your product on the list.  If you have more than one Product to add, click Save & Add Another.  

Now that we’ve added the product to the site, you’re going to want to add the product to the necessary client(s). Begin by clicking Clients in the Global Configuration menu.

You’ll now be looking at the Clients list in the admin. Find the correct client name and click Edit.

This will redirect you to the Client Admin. In the Configuration Menu on the left of the page, click Products under the Clients header.

On the client level, you’ll see two separate sections for Products. The top section is titled Global Products. This is a select menu that you can use to make products active on the client. Any selected products will show as highlighted in this list. To select a single product, click the name. To choose multiple products, click Command+select.

This option allows you to quickly activate products. Once you have selected the products you wish to make active, click Save to make the changes.

The next section is simply called Products. This list will look very similar to the Global Products menu. The difference here is that products will default to Inactive status. To change the status of products in this list, click Edit or the Product Name.

Then from the Edit Product page, click the Active toggle and select Yes.  Again, if the client is using integrations, you have the option of assigning fields to the product here as well. Click Save to complete the change.

The product is now active on the client. To remove the product from the client, just toggle the active toggle to No.

Using Products

Now that you’ve gone to the effort of adding the products, you’ll probably want to make use of them. You’ll be able to add products to recaps and from there, to your reports. So, let’s see how we get there.

You’ll begin by navigating to your Recap Definition Index. From the nav menu, click Recaps and select View Recap Definitions.

This will open the Recap Definitions Index. Here you will find all previously saved recaps for the client. Click the Add New Recap Definition button in the upper left of the page.

You are now in the recap definition builder. Start by filling out the Recap Definition Details section. This includes Name, Status (Active, Inactive), Start Date, End Date (the last date that the recap can be assigned to an event), End Offset Date (the final date that users are allowed to submit recap responses for the recap), Allow Ad hoc events to use this recap (a yes/no select determining if the recap can be used for staff-created ad hoc events), and Allow staff users to submit responses to this definition before the event date (great for pre-event recaps or the like, will allow users to submit a recap before the scheduled date of the event).

Next, you will want to select which programs you are assigning the recap to. You may assign the recap to as many or as few projects as you need. 

You can also choose to assign Location Variables to the recap. This will allow you to create location-specific questions that will only display when an event is scheduled at a location with the corresponding variable. Location Variables need to be added in the admin settings prior to building a recap definition. 

Now it is time to start building! First, you must add a page. This will be the page that the form(s) will be displayed on. You may add one or many forms to a page. You may also break your recap up into several pages if you want. To add a page click the +Page button below the Pages header.

Once the page is added, you may either add a form (the place you will add your recap fields) or you may wish to first edit the page name. The default page name is Page # (ex. Page 1, Page 2, etc). To edit the name, click the Edit Page button. This step is completely optional.

A pop up will display. Enter the page name you want to change to in the text field. Then close the pop up and your page will be renamed.

Now add the form. Click the + Form button.

This will open another popup with options for the form settings. You may choose between three different form types (Simple, Product, and Survey). We want to use a Product Form.

Product Forms

Adding a product form to your recap allows you to ask the same questions for all products assigned to the form while only adding them once. This allows for greater accuracy and speed when creating recaps.

To add a product form, select Product Form when adding a new form and click Submit. You have the option of creating the product form in collapsed form or laid out long form.

The new form will get added to the bottom of the existing recap. If you need to move the form up from this default location, you can do so by dragging and dropping the banner to wherever you need it.

The product form will contain two sub-banners. The first will allow you to assign products to the form. All recap questions added will be posed for each product that is assigned to the form. You may add as many products as you wish to a form (or as few!). To start adding products, click EditProducts.

This will open a pop up with a drop down that will allow you to select a product to assign to the form. Select a product and click Submit.

On each individual product, you can add location variables so that the questions for the products will only display at specific locations.

Continue to add products by repeating the above process until all required products are displaying on the product form. You may also add location variables or logic at the form level, meaning that the entire form would only display when those conditions are met.

Once all the products have been added to the form, you may start to add recap questions. Add questions by dragging and dropping questions from the Available Recap Questions list. You may also use the search field to find specific questions quickly.

As needed, you may also add location variables, validation, and logic to each individual question, as outlined above. Once the recap is built, submitters will see each question you’ve added for each product on the form.

So, now you have a product and a product form, but how do you find the data? Well, you add it to a report.

Recap Report

If you’re looking for recap data in report form and don’t want the hassle of building a custom report, look no further than the Program/Recap Reports feature on MainEvent. This feature allows you to immediately access the spreadsheet or schedule an automated delivery right from the index page. To learn more about building a custom report, please reach out to your MainEvent Account Manager.

To find the Program/Recap Reports Index, click Reports in the navigation menu then select Standard Recap/Program Reports. This will load the index page.

The index will be pre-populated with all iterations of a recap definition by Program and a compiled option with all Programs per recap definition. Find the recap (either by Program or by All Programs) that you want to select.

Viewing the Recap Report

To view the Recap Report, click the View icon at the right side of the page. The View icon is shaped like an eye.

This will automatically generate the report. The default columns in this report will be: Program Name, Event ID, Event Name, Event Type, Event Date, Event Start Time, Event End Time, Event Status, Location Name, Location Address, Location City, Location State/Province, Location Zip/Postal Code, Region, Market, Staff Last Name, Staff First Name, All Recap Fields.

The report will also display with default date filters and an event status filter.

If you’re satisfied with what the system generated, you can click Export to Minimal Spreadsheet (recommended format), or select from the Additional Output Formats dropdown. Additional options are: Excel 2007, Legacy Excel, OpenOffice Spreadsheet, Comma-Delimited, PDF Document, and HTML Document.

If you need to make any changes to the report, you can click Edit Report and edit as you would a custom report.

Scheduling Auto Delivery

If you want to receive the recap report on a regular basis, click Schedule Automated Report Delivery (the icon looks like a calendar).

You are now on the Report Delivery Scheduler page. First, select the name of the delivery you wish to send. Please note, this does not have to be the report name (you will choose the report further down), it can be whatever you wish to call the delivery.

The Report Name will be automatically selected for you.

Then select if you want the delivery active (will send) or inactive (will not send). The choice is the file format. This will determine what file type you send the report in. The options are: Minimal Spreadsheet (.xlsx)(default and recommended), Excel 2007 (.xlsx), Legacy Excel (.xls), OpenOffice Spreadsheet (.ods), Comma-Delimited (.csv), HTML Document (.html), and JSON (.json)

Then, choose your delivery method. The options are: Email (default and recommended), FTP, and API.

By Email

If you select email as your delivery method, your first step will be entering the recipient email addresses. Enter any and all addresses in a comma separated list.

Then enter the subject of the email. And finally the full message.

Next, you can choose whether you would like to include a link to the report. This option is great for users who have access to the site, but if the recipient doesn’t, it’s not recommended. The default for this is unselected.

Finally, select the frequency you want the report delivery sent. Your options are: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly.

Daily

If you select Daily delivery, you will need to select a Delivery Time (default 12 AM), and a Time Zone (default Central).

Weekly

If you select Weekly delivery, you will need to select a Day of Week, Delivery Time (12 AM default), and a Time Zone (default Central).

Monthly

If you select Monthly delivery, you will need to choose Day of Month (default 1st), Delivery Time (12 AM default), and a Time Zone (default Central).

Quarterly

If you select Quarterly delivery, you will need to choose the Deliver Time (12 AM default) and Time Zone (default Central).

Once you have set up the delivery frequency, click Save Delivery. The delivery will now display on the Report Delivery Schedules Index. From there, click through to view the Delivery History.

By FTP

If you select FTP as your delivery method, MainEvent will deliver your report directly to your server. In order to configure this, you will need to provide the following information: Server, Port (default 21), Login, Password, and Path.

Finally, select the frequency you want the report delivery sent. Your options are: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly.

Daily

If you select Daily delivery, you will need to select a Delivery Time (default 12 AM), and a Time Zone (default Central).

Weekly

If you select Weekly delivery, you will need to select a Day of Week, Delivery Time (12 AM default), and a Time Zone (default Central).

Monthly

If you select Monthly delivery, you will need to choose Day of Month (default 1st), Delivery Time (12 AM default), and a Time Zone (default Central).

Quarterly

If you select Quarterly delivery, you will need to choose the Deliver Time (12 AM default) and Time Zone (default Central).

Once you have set up the delivery frequency, click Save Delivery. The delivery will now display on the Report Delivery Schedules Index. From there, click through to view the Delivery History.

By API

If you select API as your delivery method, you will need to provide the URL to which your report should be delivered.

Finally, select the frequency you want the report delivery sent. Your options are: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly.

Daily

If you select Daily delivery, you will need to select a Delivery Time (default 12 AM), and a Time Zone (default Central).

Weekly

If you select Weekly delivery, you will need to select a Day of Week, Delivery Time (12 AM default), and a Time Zone (default Central).

Monthly

If you select Monthly delivery, you will need to choose Day of Month (default 1st), Delivery Time (12 AM default), and a Time Zone (default Central).

Quarterly

If you select Quarterly delivery, you will need to choose the Deliver Time (12 AM default) and Time Zone (default Central).

Once you have set up the delivery frequency, click Save Delivery. The delivery will now display on the Report Delivery Schedules Index. From there, click through to view the Delivery History.

Straight Download

Trust the system to provide? You can just download a recap report without even having to look at it! To just download the recap report, click the Download icon.

The report will automatically download in the minimal spreadsheet format.