Hero's Features

• Interface controls
• Systematic uniform Navigation
• 1-2-3 Security & access control
• Online public & in-house user portals
• Deployment options & support.

Click on the pictures to view detailed enlargements

Hero's Interface Design

Databases require views or Layouts for Searching, Entering and Reporting on the data. Fields and Objects on the layouts determine what you see and what you can do there. This is known as the 'interface'.

Hero's interface customises for each user according to loaded images, settings and values entered. The easy-to-use environment shows the changes immediately in all views.

Customised elements include:

• look & feel – logos, colours
• Main Menu button names
• options shown in pop-ups and value lists
• default values
• access allowed

Button artwork can be replaced and it will be instantly updated throughout the system.

[top]

Hero's Navigation

Hero has a simple method of navigation deployed throughout.

The corporate logo found in the top left corner of every view acts as the "Home" button and takes the user immediately back to the main menu (where the logo appears as the central image).

Other buttons are consistently applied wherever they are needed.

The database interface provides consistent navigation and data-entry patterns – tailored on-the-fly to the settings of the logged-on user:

• a context-sensitive "Help" button appears on every layout.
• fields on one layout might show data from several relationships simultaneously. eg. an event-guest record shows the event attended details alongside the Initiate details as well as their certification details.
• "portals" look from one table into another eg. invoices have a portal showing line items and Events has portals showing participants of that event. Clicking on a row in a portal on the left will often show the detailed info on the right.
• "go" buttons on the left of a portal row or to the left of an ID field are links to the detailed record. When you go anwhere, there is always an avenue to go back to where you were.
  Other buttons automate an action eg. "New" button creates a new blank record (pre-filling essential information in the background) and allows the user to fill in the rest.
• "Done" will close the current view and return to the previous view.
• valuelists - pop-ups, checkboxes, radio buttons etc are used for ensuring uniform values are entered and new entries included in the valuelists.
• mouseovers – where a mouse pointer hovers over an object and a little yellow-highlighted help message appears... then disappears when the pointer is moved.
• support tables reduce the need for reentering previously used information. eg: Venues for Events 

[top]

Hero's '1-2-3' Security

Hero offers a range of security measures and control settings for allowing or restricting access to the information.

1. Levels of access are "Executive", "Staff", "Region", "Affiliate", "Member" and Public.
   • Each level assigns or denies access to various areas of Hero and to the data which can or can't be viewed, edited, printed or exported.
2. User Accounts are assigned to "Regions" which allow further restriction to data each user can see.
   • Hero records are classified by "Region" – Events, Campaigns, Contacts etc.
   • User Accounts can be set to access none, one, several or All "Regions".
   • "Regions" could be geographical or define the activities or branches of a business.
3. User Accounts are assigned "Access" to the major sections or operation represented by the main menu buttons. Some of the buttons (and therefore their resulting destinations) can have alternative labels.

1-2-3 Security... which is controlled by Executive level users... is a very comprehensive system and will give headquarters oversight control and up-to-date feedback of the organisation as a whole.

[top]

Hero Online

Hero can be hosted for access across the local network or the internet. This host can be a single copy of FileMaker Pro allowing a handful of others to connect regularly, or by a copy of FileMaker Server Advanced allowing hundreds of others to connect regularly and simultaneously.

Hero can be accessed by using another copy of FileMaker Pro or your web browser. The user experiences are almost identical apart from some special adaptations for the web.

Some Administrative tasks must be performed only using FileMaker Pro. These include modifying the Interface or Default Values or Security.

Hero also has several web-based portals with PHP pages which merge information from the database and the web site computer's directory structure into the web page. This adds functions like web-based document management, dynamic PDF production, HTML emails with multiple attachments and embedded links, online bookings, web-based email marketing campaign management.

[top]

Hero's Deployment Options

Hero is a FileMaker Pro™ (FMP) database which is shared and can be accessed by in-house users using other copies of FMP as well as via the web using FileMaker's Instant Web Publishing (IWP) or Custom Web Publishing (CWP.

Hero can be purchased and downloaded to self-host or it can be hosted on our servers. Hero is also offered as a software service (SaaS) hosted on our servers.

Self-hosting additional requirements.

• To self-host, FileMaker Server (FMS) is required. All hosting is possible with FMS.

A minimum of one license of FileMaker Pro will be necessary in all cases for direct database access.

FileMaker products are available at a discount when bundled with Hero.

• Purchase Options
  • Standalone (1-5 user)
  • Server
  • Server Advanced
  • Single or Multi-host versions available for separately branded organisations
  • Web component add-ons
• SaaS (standalone or integrated)
  • Email Marketing Management
  • Online Bookings/Reservations Management
  • Hero database only or with additional domain hosting services

[top]

FileMaker® is the registered trademark of FileMaker Inc.