You are working with the IDEA!® Free Edition and might ask yourself: What are the differences between the free version vs. the licensed editions of IDEA!® ? How much more do I get for my money and are there other editions of IDEA!? Below we have listed the main additional features of the IDEA!® Professional and Team Edition so you can quickly get a precise overview.
The differences are mainly based on functions that offer even more comfort and enable you to build up a professional information and knowledge management for yourself and/or within your organisation. These enriched capabilities enable you to more effectively manage your knowledge and collaborate with others.
This document contains a short description which additional functions are available and for what you can use them. You'll find more detailed information about each function in the document "Introduction IDEA!.pdf".
If you need more information or want to order IDEA!® please contact us Sycon Beratungs GmbH. Additional information is available on our homepage http://www.sycon.de and all products can be ordered securely and comfortably online via our Online Shop. Our partner, Element5 (Digital River) stands here for a maximum of security and professionalism. For answers on frequently asked questions (FAQs) related to the order process please click here: Customer Care Center
| IDEA!® Free Edition | Free version with basic features. No expiry date, no limit for data records. |
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| Download: free (~4 MB) On CD ROM: 10 Euro |
Use the free version of IDEA! to see how powerful the tool is. Your comments and improvement suggestions are highly appreciated. No garanties, limited support. |
| IDEA!® Professional Edition | Single user version with powerful additional features vs. the free edition. |
Connection with Email systems
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Mail Import of a whole email or parts of an email including attached files. You can decide whether you want to add a part of an email or only attachments to an existing record or automatically create a complete new record from an email.
Send emails directly via your email system including attached documents. You can pick information out of your database, edit and comfortably send it directly out of IDEA! via you current email client. |
| Export Manager | This is a very powerful feature with various options and functions. It can copy all attached documents for the marked records or for the whole database to a user defined directory with one keystroke, is very helpful to generate a complete project documentation by just pressing one button and archiving it (e.g. on a CD-ROM: database with all related documents), zip files and much more. It is also very helpful to have documents available in seconds for presentations, meetings, etc. without searching and copying. |
| Stand Alone Archives | The feature is part of the export manager and lets you create complete stand alone archives on a removable media like a zip drive or a CD-ROM etc with one keystroke. You can use this autark archive on any windows (32 bit) PC. It is not necessary that IDEA! is installed on the PC where you run the CD. Program and database are both stored together on the archive media and started from the CD or ZIP drive. |
| Export of datenbases | Any part of an IDEA! database can be exported and saved as a separate IDEA! database. This is very helpful to extract content with related context information. Applications are: "Content templates" for any kind of projects and passing easily well structured information to colleges and friends (even stronger in combination with the database import feature). |
| Import of databases | You can import as many databases as you want into an existing database. (Combining/merging several databases). |
| Combination of database import, database export & email feature |
The combination of importing and exporting parts or whole databases as well as the connectivity with the email system offers a very high flexibility and solid structure to exchange information and knowledge in a very structured way to communicate and collaborate efficiently with others. |
| Memo Template | The Memo Template lets you define a template for the text field in the upper left window for a database. This is very helpful to guide groups or single users when you want certain data to be in every field. |
| Flexible alternate path | To set an alternate path lets you read documents under this alternate path e.g. from a specified directory and/or removable data sources like zip drives, CD ROMs without the necessity to change the original document paths in the database. Note: If an attachment is not found under the original path, IDEA! searches it automatically in the alternate path. This feature is especially helpful in combination with the functionalities of the export manager. |
| Mapper | With the mapper you can point your system's drives and paths to alternate drive letters and paths so that you can work in different environments without changing any paths in your own database. |
| Import data from Excel | Import data from Excel worksheets easly via Drag'n Drop into IDEA!. Fields available for import are "title, text field, note, status and due date". |
| Internal links of database records | Enables you to link a database record (or more than one) as an attachment to another record. Elegant way to connect records internally with and under each other (internal links). |
| Copy, cut, paste and sort branches of category tree. | Copy, cut and paste whole branches from and within the category tree easily with this function. Sort the elements of branches in alphabetical order. |
| Reports, Printing, PDF creation | 4 predefined reports are available. The reports work either on all or a filtered part of all database records. The order in which the records are printed is defined by the user, using the desired sort criteria. You'll find a sample of each report attached to the record #9: "Examples 4 Standard Reports" in the sample IDEA! database "idea_2.idb". All created reports can also be saved as PDF documents. |
| Record Report | Prints all records shown in the lower right window (either all or through a filter reduced number of records) with Record #, Title, Status, Originator, created, changed, Abstract, Attachments (filename, note, path) and categories in which the records occur. |
| Tree Report | This report is oriented towards the branches of the category tree. All records in a branch (category) and its subcategories are printed. The result is so to say the printout of a book of the database or certain branches with their respective categories as chapters. Important: Only the records of a chapter are printed where the records are shown. For collapsed categories the records are not printed. This way some categories can be left out and the report has a high flexibility. The print order is the order of the records in the category tree. |
| Attachment Report | Prints a list of all documents attachmed to the records of the database with filename, note, path, database record. The list is useful to get an overview over all attachments in the database and to check whether they have a sensful description. By showing the records where a file or an url etc. is attached, one gets further information in which context an attachment is used. |
| Grid Report | Prints the list/grid of all records shown in the lower right window (either all or through a filter reduced number of records) with Record #, Title, Note, Due date and Status The list is useful as a daily working list for taks with due dates. To use it like this choose the Due date filter (filter symbol with D) and then the printer in the menu bar above the records. A major advantage hereby in IDEA! is, that all relevant information and documents for a task are immediately availabe in their context. |
| Free Reports (option) | Optional a report generator is available which lets you design your own reports. Please contact us if you are interested in the report generator. It is currently free. |
| Print Text and Memo fields | Lets you print the text and memo fields right away out of IDEA!; independently from the reports described above. |
| Filter/Search | Beside the filters AND, OR, MARKED RECORDS and UNLINKED RECORDS, additional filters are available. |
| Fulltext search | Title, abstract, notes and the information in the attachment fields of a database can be searched by key words. All records containing the key words are shown and the keyword is highlighted. The function is also available for an extended search on already filtered records: ie, you search on a searched result! You can choose which fields are to be searched. |
| Due Date | Records with a set due date or which have passed a due date are automatically shown. Together with note and/or status field very useful as a daily working list. A major advantage hereby in IDEA! is, that all relevant information and documents for a task are immediately availabe in their context. | Status filter / status definition | The status filter allows you to filter all records according to a specific status. In the licensed editions you can define an unlimited number of your own statuses. The free edition has 3 fixed prefined statuses (Top1, Top2, Top3). | Filter: Invert | Allows you to invert the result of a filter. The result is (all records) - (filtered records). | Security | An IDEA! database can be saved with 3 different options. |
| Password protection | There are 3 security levels for a database:
1. Protection of a database through password and registration: Only the registered user in combination with the database password can open the database. 2. Protection of a database through a password. Anybody who knows the password can open the database. 3. Saving a database in a format that can be read by a free version of IDEA!. Generally the free version can't read databases created with licensed versions. In the licensed version you have the option to save the database in a mode that it can be used with a free version of IDEA!. These functions are also available with the import and export of IDEA! databases (pass selected information and knowledge: protected or unprotected). |
| IDEA!® Team Edition | The IDEA!® Team Edition is for small, medium and large firms where there is a need to manage and share knowledge and information within a company network or beetween multiple sites in a practial, easy and reliable way. The basic concept of the single edition is consequently extended and adds much more then only network and multi user capability. |
| Catalog of databases / additional tier | The Team edition adds a complete tier to the application. The start screen looks like the single edition but the records are now databases on the login level. The top level is therefore a catalog of databases. The principle is the one of the Russian nesting dolls where each puppet contains another doll when you open it. |
| Administration of users and rights | You can create users and define & assign rights per database to administer who will have access to which database with certain rights. Available rights are: no access, read only, read & write and read, write & structure. Structure means, you are allowed to change the tree in a database. |
| SQL database as backend | The data ("of all databases") is stored in a single, powerful SQL database. We currently support the following platforms: Interbase SQL Server, MS SQL Server and Oracle. |
| Multi user | The Team edition allows you to work in a multi user environment with all databases. E.g. in a team that works together on projects and topics. Serveral users can work in the same datanbase at the same time and of course serveral users can work on different databases at the same time; or a combination of both. |
| Multi Database / Multi Tree | A unique feature which enables you to load several IDEA! databases from the catalog at the same time in a (virtual) multi database. This lets you use and combine records from each database in the tree of other databases. Extremly helpful to extract and structure the same data according the various needs of specific workgroups and departments. The feature might sound difficult but it is not. It is extremly easy to use and very powerful. |
| Inter-, Intra-, Extranet | This infrastructur can be used to access the SQL database on a central server. |
| Specific options | Customization for your unique company layout and integration in your company's ways of working/culture (against extra charge). |
| Data exchange between Single and Team Edition. | A structured data exchange between the Single and the Team edition is very easy and supported in both directions. This enables a wide variety of applications. |
Date: 21-May-2004.
IDEA!® is a registered trademark of Sycon Beratungs GmbH. All other mentioned trademarks are property of their owners.