Basic settings

System settings (ONLY visible/changeable for the System Administrator) 

If you have a completely installed version of BACKCLICK on your server, you will be able to follow the first steps of System Administration. System installation is described in chapter Chapter “Installation” in this manual. After you have installed the full version of BACKCLICK, you must start configuring your system. Note that we are only describing the most important settings here. You will find more detailed information in Chapter “Installation.” 

Ask your administrator for the URL where you will find BACKCLICK installed, and log in. If possible, use Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox. 

Our example here is: http://doku.backclickasp.de/bc/ 

This part of the URL — “doku.backclickasp.de” — will differ depending on your company. Be sure to ask your administrator for the correct URL. 

User, Password, and Mandator 

Upon delivery, BACKCLICK will have the super-user “bcadmin” with the password “bcadmin”. You CANNOT delete this user. It will always be part of the standard mandator. 

To log in now, fill in the administrative user “bcadmin”: 

Abb. 18.3.1 - Login Ansicht 

User name : bcadmin 

Password : bcadmin 

Mandator : <do not fill in for Default-Mandator> 

If “access denied” or another error message appears, check to see if your password is still appropriate, or if your configuration is completed. Contact your administrator for the new password or the status of the installation. 

If your installation is completed, you will see your user interface (GUI). On the left-hand side, you will find an overview of your general menu. Clicking on () reveals the Main Menu as well as the submenus. Clicking on () hides the respective submenus again. 

To start your configuration of the system, click on “System Setting” (submenu) in “System-Administration” (Main Menu). The following entry mask will be shown: 

Abb. 18.3.2 - Systemkonfiguration (Auslieferungszustand) 

Administrator

Fill in the administrator data here, if this was not done during system installation. In case of an emergency, the system will send warnings and status e-mails to this account. 

System-Email-Account

Fill in the data of a POP3 postbox here. This postbox is needed for internal checks. Fields for “SMTP Server #2–#4” are optional. 

Proxy - Server

You may define a (HTTP) Proxy-Server here if necessary. To do this, you need to confirm the use of a proxy-server once, and leave its address in the field, “Server-address.” If no Proxy Server will be used, leave this blank. 

Abb. 18.3.2.1 - Systemkonfiguration (Abschnitt 1 - Beispieleingaben) 

IMF Properties 

Enter the basic settings of the intelligent e-mail filter (returned e-mail handling) here. These settings define whether those e-mails that have not been filtered should be sent to the administrator of the newsletter, either as an attachment to an IMF e-mail, or as the original returned e-mail. Later on, when you are configuring the basic settings of the IMF, you may define how many of these returned e-mails should be placed in one IMF e-mail (a collection of returned e-mails). This is only possible if they are sent as attached e-mails. 

WebInterface Configuration 

The WebInterface is an important component of BACKCLICK. It gives your customers the ability to: 

• Sign up for your newsletter
• Unsubscribe to the newsletter
• Edit their personal profile
• Share your company’s information with their friends
• Choose a new password by using the World Wide Web

You can also disable some of these functions, or set a password for all communications between WebInterface and the server. The set password here is “Webinterface” and you should only change it when necessary. The function “recommend” lets your customers sign their friends up for a newsletter. To avoid spam, you should define a period of time in which no e-mail may be sent to the same address. 

URL-Encode

This function encodes links so that special characters will be coded by UTF8. That way, the browser can interpret the links correctly. If you have a second link inside your original link that leads visitors to another website, this second link will also be coded. 

Example: 

Both links before coding: http://domain.backclick.de?target=http://www.google.de 

Both links after coding: http://domain.backclick.de?target=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.de 

Authentification Module 

Check here to verify whether an e-mail address is already in your system, having been used to sign up a subscriber. For greater security, you may also define certain IP addresses that are exclusively allowed to use it. In that case, no other IP address can use the authentification module. 

Abb. 18.3.2.2 - Systemkonfiguration (Abschnitt 2 - Beispieleingaben) 

HTTP subscriber API 

The “HTTP subscriber API” lets you control the admission of new subscribers, deletion of subscribers, or changes of subscribers for each URL. For greater security, you may also define certain IP addresses that are exclusively allowed to use this function. 

Abb. 18.3.2.3 - Systemkonfiguration (Abschnitt 3 - Beispieleingaben) 

Mailer & Plugins

Use these settings to adjust: 

• The number of BCC subscribers. (You may control this if needed, but not when sending is always personalized.)
• The controlling frequency. This controls how often the system should be searched for newsletters that are ready to send, and whether or not the IMF-filter (see IMF Basic Settings) should be activated.

Abb 18.3.2.4 - Systemkonfiguration (Abschnitt 4 - Beispieleingaben) 

If all settings are entered and you want to save them, click the 

-button. : This button will close the current view without any further queries, and will return you to the main menu. 

Open the BACKCLICK welcome page for log in. Enter your mandatory data as described in Chapter System Settings. (Be sure to contact your administrator for your personal log-in data.) After you log in, search the main menu for “System Administration.” Click on “Basic Settings” in the submenu. This will open the editing view as illustrated: 

Abb. 18.3.3 - Grundeinstellungen 

To better understand the delivery status: 

Abb. 18.3.3.1 - Grundeinstellungen (Auslieferungszustand; Abschnitt 1) 

Mandator 

This area is only visible for your super-administrator. By switching between different mandators, he or she can view and change the mandator's settings. 

Server Address 

Enter the server address (including a port number if it does not equal 80) where BACKCLICK is installed to open the log-in page (GUI). The last sign in the URL should not be a /(slash). In our case, we fill in: http://localhost/bc. The second server address shows you where your WebInterface has been installed (usually both addresses should be the same). 

HTML-Editor

You may activate or deactivate the HTML Editor here. This makes it possible for you to write a newsletter even if you do not know HTML. When the editor is activated, you can write a text of any length, without keeping the dimensions in mind. BACKCLICK will fit the text to your newsletter, and send it with the correct design. 

Default Format Date 

The current time may be inserted in e-mail newsletters as a replaceable character. This variable ($$APIDATE$$) may be used in different versions. The six most popular formats for time are predefined, but you can also define a new one. To do this, use the field “Custom Format.” The following variables are available:

Examples:

Check your entries by clicking on the help symbol () on the right-hand side of the entry box. You will see the current date/time in the format you chose. 

Authentification 

XML content may be imported by BACKCLICK, so that newsletters can be sent from external software. To do this, BACKCLICK assimilates XML data and executes the needed actions. To protect your system against unauthorized access via XML, you should activate the authentification. If the authentification is activated, every piece of XML data must have a valid password for a BACKCLICK user account. For the XML data, the required attributes are: “NEWSLETTER-AUTHOR-LOGIN” and “NEWSLETTER-AUTHOR-PASSWORD”. 

Spam Check 

You may activate the spam-assassin here. This will check the probability that some providers will qualify your e-mails as spam. Spam-assassin is an external range that will provide some hints about the content of your newsletter, which might be interesting for some providers. If activated, you need to define the server on which the range will run. 

Abb. 18.3.3.2 - Grundeinstellungen (Beispieleingaben; Abschnitt 2) 

Using Target-Group Newsletter 

Special target groups may be defined in BACKCLICK by using filter functions. If you only want to send a newsletter to a particular group, you have to activate this function. You need to configure these virtual lists afterwards. Search for “Create mailing list” in your submenu (Main Menu: Mailing List Management). How to create a mailing list is described in Chapter “Create Mailing Lists.” You will only see the entry “target group newsletter” in your campaign management if you already created a target group list. 

Confirmation E-mail (Double-Opt-In/Double-Opt-Out) 

An approval e-mail is used to ask subscribers to verify their entered information (subscription/change in profile/unsubscription) via link or e-mail. Even the returned e-mail will be put to good use by BACKCLICK (subscription/change in profile/unsubscription). BACKCLICK therefore needs a POP3 account, which you must define here. A maximum validity may be defined, as to a time frame. If your subscribers do not react to the approval e-mail within this time frame, they must start their subscription all over again. 

Forgot password E-mail Account 

The e-mail account and server that should be used for sending passwords after a password request are defined here. 

Abb. 18.3.3.3 - Grundeinstellungen (Beispieleingaben; Abschnitt 3) 

Send Report, E-mail Account 

The server and e-mail account that should be used for sending reports are defined here. 

Generating Passwords Automatically 

If you activate this function, BACKCLICK will generate an equivalent password automatically and complete the subscriber's master data. This is valid for Web interface subscriptions as well as for imports from the administrator’s view. If the subscriber already exists, with a valid password, no new password will be generated. 

Password Encryption (subscriber password) 

The encryption is based on “Secure Hash Algorithm.” To generate an inspection value, the SHA-1 model is used. The value will be calculated and saved in your database. While SHA-1 is in use, it is not possible to get the password in plain text out of the generated value. That way, no one can read the password or export it anywhere. You should only use this function if you do not have any subscriber's data in your BACKCLICK database. If all settings are complete, and you wish to save them, please click the -button. If you do not save your entries, and click on the -button, you will be returned to the Main Menu.