2.1 Logging in

To use the majority of Business Collaborator, all you need is a computer with a web browser installed (e.g. Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer) and a connection to the Business Collaborator server you wish to use (often an Internet connection but a local connection will be sufficient if you are using, say, your company's own server). For some of the more advanced functionality, further restrictions may be imposed regarding web browser or operating system, e.g. Save from Windows (section 3.3) can only be used by users of Windows who are also using an Internet Explorer web browser - version 5.0 or above.

You need to log in to Business Collaborator in order to share information with other people or to read documents which other people have contributed. To log in, you need:

• The address of the Business Collaborator server you are using - you will probably be sent this by a colleague when you begin to work with them.
• Your user name - this will either be issued to you or you will be able to set it for yourself (see section 20.1.3)
• Your password - this will either be issued to you or you will be able to set it for yourself (see section 20.1.4)

Before you log into Business Collaborator for the first time, you must register with the server. All aspects of registration and choosing a user name and password are described in Section 20. This section assumes that you have already registered as a user of the Business Collaborator server.

It is important that Business Collaborator knows who you are when you log in. Everything which you do, from reading documents to participating in discussions, to adding folders, is recorded by the server and who performed each action is displayed for other users to see. Also, the server checks who you are when you log in and only shows you the workspaces and folders you are entitled to see.

To log in to Business Collaborator:

• Open your web browser and insert the address of the Business Collaborator server you are using in the Address (or Location) line. Note that "Cutting and Pasting" this into your web browser instead of typing it will help you to avoid typing errors.
• The initial page you see may simply be an introductory page with information about the server. This information is publicly available - you don't need to be a registered user of the server to be able to access. In this case, you will need to click on one of the links which says "log in" to access the secure information on the system.
• When you type in your user name and password, Business Collaborator authenticates you - checks that these credentials belong to a registered user of the system.
• When you have been authenticated, you will be logged in and will see your "home page" containing the workspaces you belong to.

There are a number of ways in which Business Collaborator may authenticate your user name and password as those of a legitimate user. For details of these alternatives and more information about logging in to Business Collaborator, see Section 11.

The first time you log in to Business Collaborator, you will be taken through a series of Welcome screens, asking you for contact information about yourself and asking you to specify some of your preferences about how you wish to use Business Collaborator. This information will be stored and can subsequently be edited via your Edit Details (see section 5.6) and Edit Prefs (see section 5.7) pages.

Once you are logged in, you will be able to continue using Business Collaborator actively for as long as you want. If you are inactive for some time, you will be logged out automatically and will have to log back in. When you have finished using Business Collaborator, you should log out - see Section 11 for further details on session expiry.

Note 1

Remember that both your user name and password are case sensitive. Be careful that you do not accidentally depress "Caps Lock" on your keyboard when you are logging in.

Note 2

For security reasons, you will only be given a short time, around 1 minute, in which to log in. Otherwise, you need to refresh the page and start again.