Head Office for Virtual Assistants

With Head Office's relational database, you can create a "Personal Information Manager" for each client in your portfolio. In the PIM is logged each activity that you have completed for your client in respect of each of his own clients, eg you telephone customer X for your client and send him a brochure. You write to another customer Y, confirming a change in his order. You can then send your client either daily or weekly reports of all the activities completed on his behalf, which in turn can support an end of month invoice. You can also send links directly to your client to view his PIM and access links to documents you have created on his behalf. Click on link to screenshot below:

Head Office PIM

You can also create a billing database which links to the PIM and logs time spent on each activity and the fee charge per activity, providing the content for an itemised invoice if required. For my information on how Head Office can improve how your virtual assistant business performs, contact 08450 527565 or email info.headoffice@theawaypa.eu.

Of course, Head Office PIMs are also a good way to keep track of your own personal or business activites too!

Creating a Database

The first step in creating your Head Office database is to determine whether you want to work with a template, or design your own database starting from scratch, or ask the Head Office Design Team to design and build your database for you. For more information on having your database professionally designed and built, email: headoffice-help@theawaypa.eu

The advantage of using a template is that much of the work in setting up a database is done for you. If one of the templates closely matches your needs, start with that and customise it. If, however, the database you want is very different from any of the templates, it's best to design your own, or ask the Head Office Design Team to do this for you.

More information on how to create your database

Database Overview

A database is a place to store information. That information could be sales figures, an inventory of computers you own, a list of key customers, timesheet information; the possibilities are endless. By having the database on your site, you can easily share the information with people who need access to it.

A database also allows you to control how views are printed. You can create and print reports using a number of professionally designed templates. For help on designing and producing reports email: headoffice-help@theawaypa.eu

The real power of your database is that it is located in your Head Office This allows you to easily share the information in the database with any member/colleague of your online office, or even with guest users. It also lets other members/colleagues add information to the database. Of course, you control access to all of this with database permissions.

Personal Events and Private Events: What's the Difference?

Personal events appear only on your personal Calendar. You can tell that they're personal events because they have a personal icon beside them. Other members see these events only when you give them access to view your personal Calendar through the Calendar Sharing feature.

Private events could be personal events or they could be scheduled with other people. Even when you allow another member to see your personal Calendar, they are not allowed to access the title of, or any details about a private event. During the block of time when a private event is scheduled, they see only the word "Private."

Managing Someone Else's Calendar in your online office

If another member/colleague grants you access, you can add new events to their Calendar. For example, if you are an executive assistant, your managers might give you access to their Calendars so you can schedule appointments for them.

To add an event to another member's Calendar:

1. Click Calendar in the Menu.

2. In the View calendar for drop-down at the top of the page, choose the name of the member's Calendar that you'd like to see.

3. Click New in the Command Bar.

4. Fill in the event details, and then click Save in the Command Bar.

Sharing Your Calendar

When you schedule a meeting, you can see who in your online office is Busy, Free, Tentative, or Out of the Office. They see your availability when they schedule a meeting, add your name as a Participant, and click Check Availability. However they are not allowed to see any details about the events on your Calendar, not even the titles of the events.

The only time another member/colleague can see a detailed view of what's in your Calendar is when you share your Calendar with that member/colleague. Not even administrators can see your personal Calendar events, unless you've specifically designated them as someone who can see your Calendar.

In the Calendar Sharing section of your Head Office online office, you can designate who sees a detailed view of your Calendar. You can also choose whether or not these people can schedule appointments on your Calendar for you.

To give another member access to your Calendar:

1. Click Calendar in the Menu, and then select Settings > Calendar Sharing in the Command Bar.

2. Click the Only the people listed below may access my calendar radio button.

3. Choose the name of the member in the select box and add them to the list by clicking the arrow. They will then be able to see your calendar.

• To give a member Read Only access to your Calendar, select View from the dropdown beside their name.

• To allow a member to schedule events on your Calendar, select Manage from the dropdown beside their name.

4. Click Save in the Command Bar.

Collapsing the Menu

The Menu is located at the far left of your screen. It offers access to the Homepage, Shortcuts, Favorites, administrative options, Help, and your Head Office applications.

The Menu can be collapsed and opened by clicking on the bar at the top. It will turn orange when you place your mouse over it. Collapsing the Menu allows you to see more of your application on the screen at one time. To restore the Menu to its full size, simply click the expand/collapse bar a second time.

How to connect to your online office

The easiest way to access your Head Office is to make it your browser's default homepage. That way, you can check What's New on your site and the events coming up within the next few days when you first launch your browser.

For Internet Explorer 6:

1. Make sure your site is open.

2. In the Internet Explorer toolbar, select Tools > Internet Options.

3. In the Internet Options dialog box, click Use Current under Home page.
   Your web office address now appears in the Address text box and is set as your default home page.

4. Click OK to close the Internet Options dialog box.

For Mozilla Firefox:

1. Make sure your site is open.

2. In the Firefox toolbar, select Tools > Options. The Options dialog box appears, with the Main icon selected.

3. In the Startup area, choose Show my home page from the When Firefox starts menu.

4. Click the Use Current Pages button.

5. Click OK.

You can also access your site by:

• Adding your Head Office to your favorites or bookmarks so you can easily select it from your web browser.

• Creating a shortcut on your desktop. Once you have added your bookmark, select it from your bookmark list, right click on it and choose "copy". Then go to your desktop and right click again and choose "paste shortcut". By right-clicking on the icon created you can choose a new or shorter name, eg My Online Office, or simply Head Office.