Tractivity

The Organisations & Contacts module is a sophisticated address book with comprehensive contact management, categorisation and search functions. Full contact details are stored along with details about any activities conducted with an organisation or contact. Documents can be stored as attachments to a record, as can enquiries and questionnaire responses.

The Library module is an online document repository for any kind of digital file, e.g. letters, spreadsheets, graphics, presentations etc. Access to Library files is controlled so that some users can only view and download documents whilst others can add new files. The visibility of documents can be restricted so that files of a sensitive nature can only be seen by certain teams.

The Calendar module records past and highlights future activities for the attention of the logged-in user. The Calendar is the most cross-referenced module within Tractivity and displays activities recorded against Organisations, Contacts, Enquiries, Consultations and Events to give an integrated and holistic picture of activity across an entire organisation. The Calendar module can be integrated with Microsoft Outlook so that activities can be passed between the two applications to avoid duplicate data entry.

Tractivity is integrated with Outlook so that activities, contact details and emails can effectively be synchronised between the two applications avoiding dual input into two systems. By installing a small application, an email from Outlook's inbox can be inserted into Tractivity and recorded against an enquiry, an Activity to remind a consultant to respond to an enquiry can be inserted into Outlook's calendar and a contact record stored within Tractivity can be passed to Outlook to be subsequently uploaded to a mobile or PDA.

The Event Management module within Tractivity is an invaluable tool for the management of event invitations and responses and provides a means to create an invitee list, from the details of contacts and respondents stored within Tractivity, to then distribute invitations by email (and provide assistance to producing postal invitations) and to record responses.

The submissions from both questionnaire and enquiry forms on the website are stored within Tractivity's database so that the content of each submission can be viewed instantly within Tractivity and reported on. Enquiries made in person or questionnaires completed in hard copy can be manually entered into Tractivity and will appear seamlessly alongside those submitted online. Questionnaire forms use a respondent's email address as a unique identifier to help prevent multiple submissions from the same person.

This tool enables postcode-based datasets to be uploaded and displayed on an interactive map. A dataset which contains for example respondents' postcodes and number of enquiries by issues of concern (transport, health & safety, environmental etc) could be mapped to show locations where there is a high level of concern about a particular topic. Therefore all of the information gathered into Tractivity from the consultation exercise can be mapped and displayed, giving a powerful visual representation of activity.

The reporting element of Tractivity enables users to generate ad-hoc reports from the data that is entered and managed via Tractivity. The interface is based upon standard Microsoft products such as Excel and Word and is universally agreed to be very easy software to learn and use. Creating a report is a simple 'drag and drop' process to create both tabular and graphical reports. Once run, a report can be exported into a number of different file formats and each report can also be configured to be sent automatically to a list of recipients at a user-defined frequency.

This application enables Tractivity users to create and send mailshots and e-newsletters to stakeholders, questionnaire respondents, enquirers as well as those that have expressed an interest in being kept up-to-date of developments and progress of the consultation process. Email distribution lists can be created based on subject of interest or location and each sending of a mailshot is recorded against a recipient's Tractivity record so a full history of all communications sent to and received from a contact is available. Each email enables the recipient to unsubscribe.

The SmartInbox tool turns Tractivity into an "inbox" for emails sent to a generic email address rather than using shared mailboxes where vital communications can get lost and neglected. Tractivity is configured to scan a standard POP3 mailbox and display its email contents in on the Tractivity homepage. This means that all members of the consultation team have access to a single, central mailbox regardless of their location.

The Distribution List module within Tractivity is an invaluable tool for the management and build of lists from the details of contacts, organisations or respondents stored within Tractivity to then contact or distribute by telephone, email or letter (and provide assistance to producing postal invitations) and to record responses.