Admin How To

The purpose of this page is to explain how this site is organized and how it can be maintained.

Google Accounts

The general public can view much of our web site, of course. This is convenient for our pack members and also is good publicity and a tool for recruiting. However, some parts of our site need to be restricted to members. Additionally, the management of and modifications to the site must be restricted. The implementation of these restrictions requires the use of Google accounts. Each family in our pack should have at last one Google account (the creation of such an account is a simple process). In addition, there is an account called "pack95admin", used by pack leaders for general pack administration. This account's e-mail address is  pack95admin@gmail.com. It's password is super tip-top secret and should only be known to pack leaders.

Google Groups

A Google Group is a user-owned group created using the Google Groups service. Google Groups allow us to manage and archive mailing lists, plus provides other methods for communication and collaboration with group members. The pack has a number of groups, generally intended for use as a mailing list and archive by the pack as a whole or a subgroup of the pack. All groups are owned by Google account "pack95admin". The list of groups may be found here. Go to Google help for instructions on how to add to or remove from the list of group members. There is also Google help for how to give a member manager permissions.

Pack Group

The pack has a Google Group called "pack95", generally intended for use as a mailing list and archive for the entire pack. Each family in our pack should be a member of the pack95 group. The pack leaders are all managers of the pack95 group. E-mails can be sent to the entire pack using the address pack95@googlegroups.com (but only by members of the pack95 group).

Den Groups

Each den has its own Google Group (e.g "pack95den2"), generally intended for use as a mailing list and archive for the members of each individual den Each den leader is a manager of their den's group. It is up to each den leader to add the members of the den to their den's group. E-mails can be sent to a den using an address such as pack95_den2@googlegroups.com (but only by members of the den's group, which includes "pack95admin").

Leaders Group

The pack has a Google Group called "pack95leaders", generally intended for use as a mailing list and archive for the leaders of the pack. The pack's leaders are all members of the group and each has manager permissions. E-mails can be sent to the leaders using pack95leaders@googlegroups.com (but only by members of the pack95leaders group, which includes "pack95admin").

Pack 95 Site

Web Pages (Wiki)

The Pack 95 web site is hosted by Google Sites and is a "wiki". A wiki is a site designed to enable anyone with permission (in our case, all pack leaders) to easily contribute or modify site content. With Google Sites, we can quickly gather a variety of information in one place -- including photos, calendars, presentations, attachments, and text - as easily as editing a document. Since modifying the site is easy, all pack leaders should help enhance the site by correcting errors, updating old information, and adding new content. Only in this way will the site remain accurate, interesting, and useful. Refer to Google Sites help for information on how to modify the site. You can also refer to Google Sites help for information on how to grant editing permission to pack leaders. Also refer to Wiki Tips, which we use to save information about how to do things with the wiki which may not be obvious or straight-forward. Finally, check http://www.steegle.com/ for good Google Sites examples and help.

Den Pages

Each den has its own den page containing a den calendar and any other information the den leaders choose to include. The most interesting den page to look at right now as an example of what might be done is the Den 2 (Wolves) page. This is the most interesting page only because it was the first one done. Hopefully other den pages will soon use other features and we'll be able to use each others' ideas. When adding a new den page it is probably best to use the "Den Page" template as a starting point.

Gadgets

Google Sites has a large set of gadgets which can be added to any web page, some of them quite useful and some of them just fun. An example is on the Den 2 Progress page, which is used to chart the den's progress towards earning its Webelos activities (the data source for this chart is a simple Google Docs spreadsheet created using the pack95admin account).

Calendars

The web site contains several calendars, particularly one for the pack as a whole and one for each den (which displays both pack events and events specific to the den). All these are Google Calendars and are owned by Google account "pack95admin". They have all been made visible to the public, but they can only be modified by those with permission. In the case of the pack calendar this includes pack95admin and all the pack leaders. In the case of the den calendars this includes pack95admin and the leaders of the den. Den leaders can add additional managers and events and can also set up notifications (reminders). Note that the den calendars have been modified as described in Wiki Tips in order to display both pack and den information. The list of Google Calendars associated with this site may be found here (if logged in as pack95admin). For information about configuring calendar reminders go here. Go to Google help for instructions on how to add to or remove from the list of those with permission to make calendar changes.

Photos and Slideshows

Individual images may easily be uploaded and included on any web page by editing the page and selecting the Insert->Image menu option. Entire galleries of photos are best uploaded to a Picasa web album using the "pack95admin" Google account. Once a web album has been created then a slide show for the album can easily be included on any web page. Refer to Photo Albums for examples and Creating Slide Shows for instructions.

Suggestions

Viewers of this site who do not have permission to modify it are encouraged to submit suggestions. Each submission will result in an e-mail to the pack95leaders group and may also be retrieved at Received Suggestions. Obviously, it would be good to consider implementing any suggestion. The suggestions are submitted via Google Docs documents known as "forms", which are owned by Google account "pack95admin".

Google Docs

In the past (before the introduction of this web site) there was a repository in Yahoo! Groups for Word, Excel, PDF, etc. documents. Since the Pack site is now a wiki, and can therefore be easily modified, there is much less need for storing documents in this way. The information in most such documents can now simply be added to existing or new web pages in the site, often by cutting and pasting. Another option is to simply "attach" the documents to related site pages, such as is done with the Minuteman Muster page for example. If  a document does not to be saved it should be saved in Google Docs using the "pack95admin" account. The document's access may be restricted to members of the pack95 Google Group, to one of the den Google Groups, to the pack95leaders Google Group, or the document may be open to the public. Google Docs provides support for text documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and images which are edited (with simple WYSIWYG editors) and maintained on-line in HTML format. It also provides support for the storage of traditional Word, Excel, OpenOffice, RTF, HTML and other documents. These documents may be uploaded and may even be optionally converted into the native HTML format. The list of Google Docs to which the currently logged in user has access may be found here.

Site Maintenance

The web site, groups, calendars, etc. will require maintenance over time in order to remain current. Here is a partial list of required maintenance, along with assignment of responsibilities, broken down by type of event. Note that much of this involves adding/removing group members and adding/removing editing permissions for the web site, calendars, and groups. Instructions for all this may be found in the descriptions above.

New Pack Member

1. Add new member to den group. (den leader)

2. Add new member to "Names, Addresses, Phone Number" page of den group. (den leader)

3. Add new member to pack95 group. (Committee Chair)

Pack Member Departs

1. Remove member from den group. (den leader)

2. Remove member from "Names, Addresses, Phone Number" page of den group. (den leader)

3. Remove member from pack95 group. (Committee Chair)

New Leader

1. Add new leader to pack95leaders group with Manager permissions. (Committee Chair)

2. Give the new leader Manager permission for the den group (if applicable) and the pack95 group. (Committee Chair)

3. Give new leader permission to add events to the den calendar (if applicable). (Committee Chair)

4. Update Leadership page. (Committee Chair)

Leader Departs

1. Remove leader from pack95leaders group. (Committee Chair)

2. Remove leader's Manager permission for the den group (if applicable). (Committee Chair)

3. Remove leader's permission to add events to the den calendar (if applicable). (Committee Chair)

4. Update Leadership page. (Committee Chair)

New Den Created

1. Create a new Google Group whenever a new den is formed (or re-establish old one if a disbanded den is reinstated). Make sure the access is restricted. (Webmaster)

2. Create a new den calendar. (Webmaster)

3. Create new den page and link (or re-establish old ones if a disbanded den is reinstated). Use the "Multiple Calendars" tip on the Wiki Tips page to embed the calendar. (Webmaster)

4. Add den to About Google Groups page. (Webmaster)

5. Add den to Leadership page. (Webmaster)

6. Create a "Private Den folder" in Google Docs and give the den's group permission to view the contents. (Webmaster)

7. Not site related, but don't forget to create a new password for PackMaster Web access for the den. (Awards)

Den Disbanded

1. Remove links to old den page (den page itself can optionally remain). (Webmaster)

2. Remove old den calendar. (Webmaster)

3. Remove members from den Google Group whenever a den is disbanded (existing group should remain, in case den number is ever re-used). (Webmaster)

4. Remove den from About Google Groups page. (Webmaster)

5. Remove den from Leadership page. (Webmaster)

General - Committee Chair

1. Confirm new requests for membership in pack95 group. (Committee Chair)

2. Respond to received pack95admin e-mail. (Committee Chair)

3. Add pack meetings and pack planning meetings to the official pack calendar. (Committee Chair)

General - Den Leaders

1. Add new calendar events to the den calendars. (den leaders)

2. Update den web pages. (den leaders)

General - Webmaster

1. Ensure suggestions are considered and assigned. (Webmaster)

2. Delete old announcements by deleting the associated web page. (Webmaster)

General - All Leaders

1. Add new calendar events to the official pack calendar. (any group leader)

2. Add new calendar events to the non-scouting events calendar. (any group leader)

3. Implement selected suggestions. (any designated group leader)

4. Add new material, correct errors, remove outdated material. (all group leaders)

Getting Started

Information for members about how to get started using the web site, Google Groups, and Google Calendars may be found here.