Tansa Administrator

Enlarge Image The Tansa Administrator

The Tansa Administrator application includes functionality that is designed to be used by both information technology staff members and content/editorial staff members.

The primary functions of the Administrator application are bundled together into separate application "modules". Different administrators will work with different modules, depending on their role in managing the solution. The Administrator modules currently include the following:

Auxiliary Dictionary Module

Most users of the Tansa software are not allowed to add new words and phrases to the Tansa dictionary. With the Tansa system, only an appointed guardian of the organization’s style and spelling rules is allowed to make changes to the dictionary on the server. We refer to that person as the Tansa "Language Editor". The Tansa Administrator is the application used by the Language Editor to maintain and modify their installation’s custom dictionary.

The Administrator tool gives the Language Editor tremendous control over how Tansa works. It makes the system very flexible, and allows the customer to swiftly and easily change the spelling and text usage (style) rules for the entire company, or individual publications.

And, while the end-users cannot directly add words to the Tansa dictionary, they can easily send suggestions for new words and phrases to the Language Editor. These suggestions show up in a list in the Auxiliary Dictionary Module.

The Tansa Administrator Auxiliary Dictionary Module includes the following features:

• End users can send suggestions for corrections and new words directly from their Text Proofing Clients, and these suggestions are displayed in the Auxiliary Dictionary module.
  • The Language Editor can then decide to accept any of the submitted suggestions and add them to the Auxiliary Dictionary, or they can reject them.
• The same administrator tools can administer several dictionaries or Language Profiles and it is possible to divide the content between them.
• The Language Editor can test any modifications they make to the dictionaries directly in the Administrator application.
• The Language Editor can add hyphenation points to any word or phrase they enter in the Auxiliary Dictionary.
• The Administrator is designed to be simple and user-friendly. For example:
  • The language used in the Tansa Administrator’s windows and menus can be changed, and the language change takes effect immediately, without the necessity of restarting.
  • Settings and preferences for the Administrator application are saved on the server so that they are available to the user no matter which machine they use.
  • Status messages and progress indicators show when the system is working, including a progress indicator when the Tansa Server is starting or being updated.

Dictionary Update Module

From time to time, Tansa Systems' dictionary experts will provide you with updates to your base Tansa dictionary. These updates are delivered to your Tansa server automatically (via the Tansa Update service), but they must be installed by an administrator.

The Dictionary Update Module for the Tansa Administrator application is used to install these Primary Dictionary updates.

The Tansa Administrator Dictionary Update Module includes the following features:

• When a new dictionary update arrives, the administrator will be notified via email.
• Previous versions of the Primary Dictionary can be archived and re-installed later if necessary.
• The installation process for a new Primary Dictionary is entirely automated and can be executed by a single mouse click.

System Update Module

A complete Tansa solution includes several software components that are installed on the server and on the client workstations. Information technology (IT) staff members can use the System Update Module for the Tansa Administrator to keep track of which versions of their Tansa components are installed and on which computers.

From time to time, Tansa Systems ships updates to these components to add features or fix reported issues. These updates are delivered to your Tansa server automatically (via the Tansa Update service), but no software is automatically installed anywhere on your computers by Tansa. Updates must be installed by IT staffers with computer administrator privileges.

We understand that managing the deployment of updates can sometimes be difficult, especially if you have several hundred client workstations to manage. When you receive new updates to one or more of your Tansa components, the System Update Module's status list will let you know which computers have already been updated, and which still need to be updated.

The Tansa Administrator System Update Module includes the following features:

• When a new system component update installer arrives, the administrator will be notified via email.
• The settings for the Tansa Update Service can be configured in the System Update Module.
• The System Update Module displays the name, version number and creation date of each of the licensed components.
• The System Update Module includes a button for manually running the Tansa Update service.

Users Module

For those customers that have a Tansa Server running more than one dictionary, the Users Module for the Tansa Administrator is needed for managing user access to each dictionary.

The Users Module comes in two different "flavors":

• Standard Edition: The user account list can be entered manually or imported from a file. Dictionary access is granted by using the account editing tools.
• LDAP Edition: The user account list can be synchronized with a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) server, such as Microsoft's Active Directory Server. Administrators can assign access to dictionaries based on groups created on the LDAP server.

Both versions of the Users Module allow administrators to grant a user access to one or more dictionaries running on your Tansa server.