Zones

Using zones for online monitoring

After you set up zones in Sales-n-Stats web control and communication center, the sections of your site corresponding to these zones become subject to online monitoring.

Sales-n-Stats operator performs online monitoring via the 'Site Monitor' section of the Web control and communication center terminal. This section includes two major components: the Monitor and the Zones Switch Board.

‘Site Monitor’ section.

The Monitor occupies the larger part of the 'Site Monitor' pane, it is the working area in which site zones appear. The Zones Switch Board is a side panel located to the left of the monitor area that allows the operator to control what zones get displayed on the monitor.

At the first start of the Operator Terminal, the monitor area is empty. All the zones available for monitoring appear in the form of zone buttons on the zones switch board. Each zone button corresponds to a specific zone on your site. The name of the zone is written on the button. The number in parentheses next to the zone name shows the number of users currently visiting the zone.

To find out what is happening in a specific zone, you need to unfold this zone so it appears on the monitor. Click on the button corresponding to the zone you want to view. The button becomes “activated” and the zone is visualized in the form of a zone window.

‘Site Monitor’ section: ‘Catalog’ zone is opened on the monitor.

If there are any users visiting the zone you unfolded in the monitor, you see their visitor badges inside the zone window. The Detailed/Compact View switch on the zone window title bar allows you to switch between compact and detailed badge view within the zone.

a) Compact view b) Detailed view
‘Catalog’ zone window displaying a visitor’s badge

The title bar of a zone window displays the name of the zone and includes a color bar. The color is different for each individual zone which is meant to help you differentiate between the zones when several zones are opened on the site monitor simultaneously. When a customer passes through a zone, he is “stained” with the color of that zone so the history of his movements can be easily seen on the Zone Tracking Bar of the Visitor's Badge.

Zone buttons stay pressed all the time while the corresponding zones are displayed in the monitor area. To close a zone window displayed on the monitor, click the 'Close' control in the zone window title bar or click the pressed zone button corresponding to this zone on the zone switch board. The zone disappears from the monitor and the zone button regains its not pressed in look.

Zone windows appearing on the monitor are resizable, to change their location drag them within the monitor area. Sales-n-Stats “remembers” the size and position of the zone windows on the monitor and next time you start the Operator Terminal, the zone windows reappear on the monitor the way you left them there.

Adjusting the layout of the monitor

There are no software limitations as to the number of zone windows that can be simultaneously opened in the monitor area. However, in practice the question is not how many zone windows can be opened, but what amount of information within a zone window you can see.

The monitor area is divided into three sections by two thin vertical lines going downward from the two movable markers on the horizontal ruler above the monitor area.

‘Site Monitor’ section: horizontal ruler, ruler markers and vertical lines dividing the monitor into three sections.

When you click a zone button, a zone window corresponding to this zone is supposed to open in one of the three sections of the monitor. If you open more than one zone, they open left to right and top to bottom. If there is no more space on the monitor for the new zone windows to fit in, the new windows begin to open on top of the first layer in a cascade from the upper left corner.

After you opened the zone windows for the first time and adjusted their position, they resume this position even if you close and then open them again. To change the size of a window, drag the window frame from the right or bottom side or bottom right corner. Note that a zone window has a fixed minimal size of 70 x 80 px and cannot be made smaller than that. The maximal size to which a zone window can be expanded equals the size of the monitor area. To maximize a zone window, double-click on its title bar.

To move a window to a new location within the monitor pane, drag it by the title bar. Zone windows can be placed anywhere within the monitor, including that they can overlap and even cover other zone windows completely.

Considering that zone windows can be placed in layers on top of one another and that their sizes can be modified, we can say that the number of zone windows that can be opened in the monitor area is practically unlimited, but placement on the monitor of a large number of zones with overlaps makes the work of Sales-n-Stats operator inefficient.

Tiling

Tiling is a functionality that helps you keep your zone windows organized. It automatically flattens the zones on the monitor with the help of the ruler markers and vertical dividing lines mentioned above so the zones fit together with no gaps or overlaps. To get an idea about how it works, drag markers on the horizontal ruler and click 'Tile'. Then move zone windows across the Site Monitor and click 'Tile' again.

Use tiling to arrange the zone windows in almost any pattern:

•	To make a few zone windows the same size, adjust the width of a monitor section accordingly, drag these windows to this section and click on Tile.

•	To move a zone window from one monitor section to another, drag the zone window by the title bar so its largest part is located over the desired section and click on Tile.

Note: Tiling can be a convenient way to bring a maximized zone window back to its normal size.