Multimap Shared Record Checking in Client Zone Version 1.0 Implementation Guidelines

Who should read this documentation?

This documentation is for programmers, developers, webmasters, project managers and other IT personnel who are implementing any Multimap service that involves the upload and management of address data. The Multimap services that work with Shared Record Checking are:

• Multimap API;
• In-line with Geocoding;
• HTML Location Map;
• XML Location Map;
• HTML Storefinder; and
• XML Storefinder.

Assumptions

The document explains how to use the Shared Record Checking features of Multimap's Client Zone extranet; it assumes that you are familiar with the basic features and scope of your Multimap service.

You need a Multimap service client account. If you do not yet have one, please contact your Multimap account manager or the Multimap Sales team for your account information, or a free trial account and password; please see the foot of this web page for contact details.

Scope of documentation

This document covers the use of the Shared Record Checking features of Client Zone from the viewpoints of both Client Zone administrators and their email recipients. These features include uploading, geocoding, verifying and testing data using Multimap's Client Zone extranet.

For details of how to incorporate your Multimap services into your own website, please see the Implementation Guidelines documentation that has been provided by your Multimap account manager.

Copyright

Please note that the maps and data used to provide Multimap services represent copyrighted information, which is owned by our data partners. Do not copy, store, cache, or manipulate in any way any of the maps generated by Multimap services. Any violation of this instruction could result in the cancellation of your service.

Please ensure that every web page that you use to provide a Multimap service for your users maintains a link to Multimap's Terms and Conditions of Use of map images and data.

Limits on geocoded data

Please note that any geocoding provided by Multimap may be used only as part of a Multimap service. If you wish to use the geocoded information for any application other than a Multimap service, additional charges apply. The fee charged is based on the data used and the number of addresses geocoded. This limitation is necessary because of contractual requirements of our data partners.

A special case - People's Republic of China

If you have a Multimap service that includes records for stores located in the People's Republic of China (PRC) that have been geocoded to street level, legal restrictions mean that Multimap cannot expose those stores' coordinates either to you or to your users by any means, whether via Client Zone, in downloaded files or in any customer-designed interface.

Specifically, this means that you:

• must host all your records for stores located in the PRC on Multimap's Chinese servers and host all your other store records on Multimap's global servers;
• cannot host any records for stores located in the PRC on Multimap's global servers or host other store records on Multimap's Chinese servers;
• must maintain separate Multimap service accounts if you wish to cover locations both inside and outside the PRC; and
• cannot have your Multimap service(s) integrate records for stores located in the PRC with records for stores located elsewhere.

Street-level geocoding in the PRC is currently available via the Multimap API only. For further details of how this restriction affects your Multimap service(s), please see:

• Logging in to Client Zone;
• Sending records for verification; and
• Reviewing updated records.

What is Shared Record Checking?

Shared Record Checking (SRC) is a feature of Multimap's Client Zone which allows administrators who have many address records in their Multimap databases to delegate the verification of a subset of those records to one or more recipients (who are typically individual retailers, hoteliers or outlet managers).

Typical SRC workflow

How Client Zone works

Client Zone acts as a password-protected extranet which lets you view and manage your Multimap services. Specifically, Client Zone lets you:

• change the structure of your table of addresses;
• upload, geocode and edit addresses;
• upload and download data files, templates, images and other files;
• manage users, logins and passwords;
• send records to recipients for verification and adjust your data based on their feedback;
• view your service documentation; and
• view your Multimap services' traffic reports.

Preview and live environments

You can test any changes made to your Multimap services in a preview environment before making them live. For details, please see the relevant sections of the Implementation Guidelines documentation for your service.

When you run a Shared Record Checking session, Client Zone 'locks' the records you check in your preview environment and copies them into a separate 'SRC environment', where they remain until they have been verified by your recipients; you can then move them back to your preview environment before making them live.

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Administrator Interaction: Sending Records for Verification

Logging in to Client Zone

For details on logging in to Client Zone, please see Multimap's Client Zone documentation.

Checking your data structure

By default, your table of addresses in Client Zone contains a field called src_email. Each store record that you wish to send to a recipient for verification should contain that recipient's email address in this field.

You need to ensure that your table of addresses contains this field before you can begin a Shared Record Checking session:

• if it does, please disregard the rest of this section; but
• if it does not, please add this field manually, as described below.

To add an src_email field to your table of addresses:

1. From the Management Menu, click View or change address table structure.
2. Click on the Add a field button.
3. On the Add field to database table page, create a new field with the Field name value "src_email".
4. Set the new field's Data Type property to "varchar".
5. Enter a Size that is large enough to match (at least) the number of characters in the longest of your recipients' email addresses. The Multimap default length is 60 characters.
6. Set the Position in your table of addresses to correspond to the field of the same name in your source data file. We recommend that you add this as the final field in your table, so that it matches the Multimap default structure.
7. Click on Add field to append the new field to your table of addresses.

Sending records for verification

An SRC session offers a series of web pages and forms to both administrators and recipients, in multi-step processes similar to online 'wizards'.

Beginning an SRC session

To begin an SRC session, click on the Shared Record Checking tab on the toolbar at the top of the Management Menu page.

Searching for records

To search for the records you wish your recipients to check:

1. Click on one of the radio buttons on the Shared Record Checking page to find:
• all records;
• records that have not geocoded;
• records that have not geocoded, but where Multimap has suggested alternatives; or
• records from a custom search.
2. If you select a custom search, a series of drop-down forms appears; these controls allow you to build filters to limit the number of records that are returned.






3. Click on Add filter if you wish to filter your results by more than one condition.
4. Click on the Show/Hide display options link to control which fields of your table of addresses are shown in the summary list of records that appears on the next page.
5. Click on Find to display the list of records that will be sent to recipients.
6. When you have checked that the list of records shown in your summary list is the list that you wish to send to recipients, click on the Next Step button.

Please note that the Show/hide display options link for custom searches refers only to the summary list of records that Client Zone displays before it sends them to your recipients for verification; it does not reflect the list of fields that will be visible to those recipients. For details of how to control recipients' access to these fields, please see the section on Preparing records for verification.

Limitations on trial services

If your Shared Record Checking service is a trial service, each SRC session can contain a maximum of five records. Client Zone automatically sends verification emails for the top five records listed on the second web page of the SRC session creation process; you can influence the selection of records by clicking on the column headings to change the order of records.

For example, if you have ten records in the Northern Hemisphere and wish to send the five southernmost of them for checking, you can click on the heading of the lat column until you see your list of records sorted by latitude in descending order.

Preparing records for verification

Restricting visibility of record data

You can decide whether to let your recipients view all the data that is in your table of addresses or to prevent them from viewing and editing certain fields. By default, the SRC service makes all fields visible to your recipients; however, you can click on the Custom fields radio button to hide sensitive data or internal database fields such as client_id, GeocodeDate and GeocodeSource.

Customizing messages to recipients

You can also add your own message to all your recipients, to accompany your email request to verify addresses. The SRC service provides a default message in a text box; you can leave this message as it is or edit it to include your own instructions to your recipients. For example, you might wish to specify a deadline for your recipients to submit their changes, or ask them to pay special attention to a particular field of their record(s); you can communicate this in a custom message.

Please note that, if your Multimap service covers the People's Republic of China to street level, the fields that contain the coordinates of your store records are hidden from view in Client Zone for legal reasons; neither you nor your recipient(s) can see them.

Sending records to recipients for verification

When you are satisfied with your selection of records, the fields that are to be visible to your recipients and the message you wish to send to accompany your email:

1. Click on the Next Step button to proceed to the Confirm SRC Launch page.
2. Click on the Send emails button to ask your recipients to verify their records.

Client Zone sends one email to each recipient whose email address is associated with one or more of the SRC records, and displays a screen which shows the summary of the status of your SRC session.

Records that are submitted for SRC will be unavailable for editing in your preview environment; for details, please see the section on 'Locked' store records in your preview environment.

Please note that you should not click on the End SRC session link until you are certain that you wish your recipients to have no further access to your SRC session. After you end your SRC session, any recipients who have not already responded will no longer be able to verify the data you have sent them and you will have to repeat the SRC process for those recipients. Your SRC session remains open even if you log out of Client Zone or if your Client Zone connection 'times out' or is interrupted.

SRC record status

Each record in an SRC session has a status which you can see in Client Zone; the five possible states for each record are:

Status	Description
waiting	The record has been sent to its recipient for confirmation and is awaiting a reply. (This includes any records that you have rejected, as described in the section on Accepting and rejecting updates to records.)
Error	The record has not been sent to any recipient because the record's src_email field did not contain a syntactically correct email address.
verified	A recipient has confirmed this record without making any changes.
pointandclick	A recipient has confirmed this record by clicking its correct location on a map.
regeocoded	A recipient has confirmed this record by editing the details of the record's address.

Invalid or absent email addresses

Please avoid including in your SRC sessions any record that does not have a valid email address in its src_email field; if you attempt to send an email to an invalid or blank email address, Multimap emails you to notify you that the associated record has not been sent to any recipient.

'Locked' store records in your preview environment

When you include store records in an SRC session and send them to your recipients, those records are 'locked' for the duration of that SRC session and cannot be edited in your preview environment.

Each record remains in this state until you:

• receive a response from the record's recipient, accept any changes and move the record back to your preview environment;
• remove the record manually from the set of records in your SRC session, thereby moving the record back to your preview environment; or
• end your SRC session.

Please note that, if your Multimap service covers the People's Republic of China to street level, the fields that contain the coordinates of your store records are hidden from view in Client Zone for legal reasons; neither you nor your recipient(s) can see them.

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Recipient Interaction: Verifying Records

When you send records for verification, Client Zone generates two emails to each recipient:

• one sends a unique URL on which the recipient should click to verify records; and
• the other contains a five-digit verification code for the recipient to type as a password.

Editing record details

A recipient clicks on the URL that has been sent from Client Zone and enters the correct five-digit verification code. A Multimap web page gives clear instructions on how to check and edit the records and send them back to you.

A recipient clicks on the Edit button to update any store details.

Changing locations using text boxes

A recipient can correct store details by typing in any of the boxes on the Edit record page.

Changing locations using Point and Click

A recipient can correct the exact position of a store on a map by clicking on the correct location; Multimap's icon moves automatically to the new position. When a recipient uses Point and Click to change a location on a map, and the new position does not match the location to which we have already geocoded, Client Zone asks for confirmation of the new position.

If the correct location lies outside the default map, the recipient can pan and zoom the map to re-locate the icon. Zooming the map in or out at any time generates a new map which is centered on the icon's current position.

Saving recipient changes to store records

After making any changes to store details on the Edit record form, a recipient can click on:

• Back to record list to revert to the Records requiring checking page without saving any changes, or
• Confirm record to save any changes made.

Sending changes

When all the records in a list have been checked, a recipient can click on the Finish checking records and send to the administrator button, followed by the Send your changes button. At this point the recipient's original URL and five-digit verification code expire.

Interruptions to Recipient SRC Sessions

A recipient can quit an SRC session at any time by closing a browser window; all confirmed and changed records are saved. A recipient who has not yet clicked on the Send your changes button can continue an SRC session by opening a new browser window and re-entering the original URL; there is no need to re-enter the five-digit verification code unless the recipient has deleted the relevant cookie from the web browser.

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Administrator Interaction: Submitting Records after Verification by Recipients

When you log in to Client Zone as an administrator after sending records to recipients for verification, you can tell whether your recipients have verified their records.

Checking verification status of records

To check the status of the records that you sent for verification:

1. Log in to Client Zone.
2. Click on the Shared Record Checking tab.

A summary of all the records you sent for verification is shown on the Shared Record Checking page. From this page you can:

• view your updated records;
• send reminder emails to those recipients who have not replied;
• move a selection of records to your preview environment; or
• end the SRC process for your session.

Reviewing updated records

To view and check the records that your recipients have returned:

1. On the Shared Record Checking page, click on View Records.
2. On the Manage Records page, use the radio buttons to select the status that applies to the records you wish to view.
3. Click on the Find button to display a list of records.
4. Click on the View button to show the record(s) that you wish to check.
5. The web page displays the details of the record you originally sent on the left-hand side of the screen, marked "OLD", together with a map. On the right-hand side of the screen it displays a map and the same information for the updated record as edited by your recipient, marked "NEW". Values that differ between the two are shown in red.








6. Use the buttons at the top of the screen to scroll between records.

Please note that, if your Multimap service covers the People's Republic of China to street level, the fields that contain the coordinates of your store records are hidden from view in Client Zone for legal reasons; neither you nor your recipient(s) can see them.

Accepting and rejecting updates to records

When you view your recipients' changes you have four courses of action available:

Action	Description
Reject and revert	This action rejects all changes your recipient has made to the record and changes the record back to its original values. It also generates another email request which returns the updated record(s) to the recipient to make further changes. If you wish, you can add a message in the text box that accompanies the rejection email. The original record details remain in your SRC environment until you receive another response from the recipient.
Reject and save	This action rejects the changes your recipient has made to the record but keeps the updated values in your SRC environment. It also generates another email request which returns the updated record(s) to the recipient to make further changes. If you wish, you can add a message in the test box that accompanies the rejection email. The details contained in the recipient's original update to the record remain in your SRC environment until you receive another response from the recipient.
Accept and edit	This action overwrites the existing data in your preview environment with those supplied by the recipient. The record is automatically removed from SRC and returned to the preview environment. This action also opens the Edit record page to allow you to make further changes to the record.
Accept and keep	This action overwrites the existing data in your preview environment with the changes your recipient has made. The record is automatically removed from SRC and returned to the preview environment.

Sending reminder emails to recipients

If a recipient has failed to respond to a request to verify records, you can use the SRC service to generate a reminder by clicking on the Send reminder email link on the Shared Record Checking page.

Moving records to your preview environment

When you are satisfied with an update to any of your checked records, move the data to your Client Zone preview environment:

1. On the Shared Record Checking page check the box on the left of each record you wish to upload to your preview environment.
2. Click on the Move selection to preview button to move the records to your preview environment.

You can transfer records to your preview environment individually, in groups or all at the same time. You can move records to preview from any state; it is not necessary to individually check and accept each record. When you are satisfied with all the records in the table of addresses in your preview environment, use Client Zone to copy the data to your live environment.

Ending an SRC session

When you have received responses from all your recipients for all the records you sent out for checking, and you have moved all your updated records to your preview environment, you can end your SRC session.

You can, however, end your SRC session at any time. To end your SRC session, click on the End SRC Session link on the Shared Record Checking page. This ends your SRC session, copies all records in the SRC session back to your preview environment and returns you to the Client Zone Management Menu page.

Back-up copies of records

We recommend that you save back-up copies of the changes that you have made during your SRC session, by downloading your new preview environment data using one of the links shown on the Shared Record Checking - Session Closed page. You can then continue with your Client Zone session by using any of the links in the interface.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can my recipients log in to Client Zone?

No. They can only interact with the Shared Record Checking service by means of the links and five-digit verification codes in the automated emails that they receive.

Is there a time limit for my recipients to verify the addresses I send to them?

No, Client Zone imposes no time limits. However, the standard emails sent to recipients ask them to verify and return records "as soon as possible"; you can edit this default text to specify a deadline, if you wish.

Do I receive emails automatically when my recipients verify addresses?

No. You must log in to Client Zone to check the status of any records that you have sent for verification.

I accidentally ended my SRC session before all my records were verified. Have I lost any recipient changes that I had not yet checked?

No changes have been lost. Ending an SRC session automatically copies all records in the SRC session back to your preview environment.

Please note, however, that Client Zone issues a warning when you attempt to end an SRC session. If you close your browser without ending your SRC session, you can log back in to Client Zone and continue with that SRC session the next time you open your browser.

I wish to upload records for stores that are located in the People's Republic of China. Can I combine these with my records for other stores that are located elsewhere?

No. For legal reasons, records for stores that are located within the People's Republic of China must be stored separately on dedicated servers that are physically located in that country. For further details, please see the Limits on geocoded data section.

Further Help

If you require further help with your Multimap services, please contact the Multimap Customer Support team:

Great Britain, London	+44 (0)20 7632 7777
email:	info@multimap.com

For general account enquiries or further services, please contact the Multimap Sales team:

Great Britain, London	+44 (0)20 7632 7800
email:	sales@multimap.com