Welcome to the iGrOOps user's manual.  This document is specifically for the user, or member, of any iGrOOp.  It explains in detail how to use the applications and features within iGrOOps.

All iGrOOps are not setup the same way.  Some administrators do not give certain permissions to members.  For example, in your iGrOOp, you may not be able to create video postcards as a member, but members from another iGrOOp may.  Check with your iGrOOp administrator about permissions.

The teleconferencing "application" is really not an application at all, but rather instructions for participating in conference calls for your iGrOOp.  You use a regular telephone and no Internet connection is required.

The teleconferencing application is just a place to go to get the teleconference dial in number and access code.  The conference itself is done completely off line.
Conference Basics

Costs.  It costs nothing to use this conferencing services besides the cost of the U.S. long distance telephone number that we provide. If you can dial a U.S. phone number, you can use this service.

How it Works. Simply use your telephone to call the number provided to you on the teleconference iGrOOps page.  Once connected, follow the prompts and enter your conference code (also provided to you by your iGrOOp administrator).  That is it!

How to Maximize Conference Quality

In any conference call, no matter what conference bridge or provider you use, the clarity will decrease somewhat as you add more participants. The more conference participants, the more likely the use of cell phones, cordless phones, speakerphones, headsets, background noise, and other low-quality transmission problems. Also, there is more chance of someone putting the call "on hold" without remembering to mute their phone and broadcasting their 'hold music' or radio station to the remainder of the conference.

Under normal circumstances, it is human error that causes problems as a conference grows larger, and generally not our conference bridge. Since all lines are bridged together, a conference call can never be better than the worst connection on the call.

To Eliminate Background Noise and Distractions

• Be Mindful of Your Surroundings
• Call from a quiet location.
• Turn off the ringer of a multi-line phone or any other phone in the room.
• Do not put your phone on hold if you have on-hold music or advertisements. Your on-hold music will play for conference Participants making conversation impossible in your absence.
• Turn off your call waiting or its beeping will disrupt the conference and may be confused with entry or exit chimes. For example, dialing star seven zero (*70) before the conference conference number disables call waiting for some phone services. If you need assistance with this feature, contact your local phone service provider.
• Take Advantage of Conference Controls
• Self-mute can be used by any conference participant and can be turned on and off by toggling six (6) on the telephone keypad.
  

Echos and How to Minimize Them

Our conference bridges are physically located on the premises of telephone company central offices and are connected to the telephone network via high capacity digital circuits. Our equipment does not itself introduce echo or noise into the conference. However, echo or noise can enter the conference through the telephone lines used by one or more of the participants in the conference. It is the nature of teleconferencing that all sound brought in to the conference is amplified and rebroadcast out to all the other participants in the conference. If there is a barely noticeable echo in a two-party conversation, it may become a very pronounced echo in a 30-party conference call.

If you encounter an echo or noise during your conference you can try the following procedure: Ask everyone to mute themselves using touch-tone six (6) (see the Touch Tone quick reference guide). Then, slowly, one at a time, each participant should un-mute him or herself (again using touch-tone 6). When the echo or noise returns, the "culprit" will have been identified. That person should be asked to hang up and dial back in again, using a different telephone if possible.

iGrOOps is a very advanced system that takes advantage of much of the technology that is used by the latest web-browsers.  The one downside to this, is that the mobile experience is limited.  We are working on a "mobile" version of iGrOOps where users and admins alike will be able to do some of the more common and important tasks on the road like read and respond to forum posts and private messages, approve or decline posts,  approve or decline members, etc.  This page is updated as we add some of these features.

Just because parts of iGrOOps were not created specifically for mobile devices, does not mean your mobile device cannot use that part/feature of iGrOOps.  All mobile devices are different and as they advance, they will be more like desktop browsers.

iPhone users: The iPhone browsing experience is so much like a desktop, we have excluded it from the list of mobile devices.  With the exception of Flash content, you should be able to access all of iGrOOps.

Especially for Mobile Users

On most mobile platforms, the screen size is very small (compared to a desktop).  So the first change is for usability and aesthetics.  When you login through your mobile device, you can see this change, represented by the custom header.  In addition, iGrOOps has been customized for mobile users so they can:

• Read Forum Posts and Private Messages
• Post / Reply to Forum Posts and Private Messages
• Approve or Decline Posts

iGrOOps is updated almost daily, check this page for frequent updates.