Following up on our Q4 WEB Spring 08 Features blog post, I’m going to talk about Q4 Web’s ability to embed Google maps into your site. Google maps are quickly becoming a standard method for displaying maps on websites.

What is Google Maps?
Google Maps is a Google service offering powerful, user-friendly mapping technology and local business information—including business locations, contact information, and driving directions. You can find out more about Google maps here

Ok, great. So what can I do with Google maps
Googles maps are quickly becoming a standard method for displaying various types of map related information on company websites. Some examples of how Google maps can be useful on your site are:

• Display a map to your corporate offices
• Show a map of your operations (see a great example on the Baffinland Iron Mines website)

In addition to the basic mapping data, administrators can also tag locations with additional information regarding the location that is tagged on the map. Website users can view satellite images of your mine areas as well as topographical images providing them more insight into your companies operations.

How can I get Google maps functionality on my site?
We think this is a great new feature and we hope you do to! If you would like more information on how you can integrate Google maps functionality in your site send us an email to support@q4websystems.com or give us a call at 416-626-7829 (press 2 for support) and we’ll be happy to help you integrate this new feature.

Did you know that yesterday (May 1st) was RSS awareness day? Well if you didn’t your in luck, as mentioned in our Q4 WEB Spring 08 Features post, Q4 Web now supports outgoing RSS feeds for Press Releases, Presentations and Events.

What is RSS?
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a method for distributing content over the web in what is commonly referred to as an “RSS feed”. RSS feeds typically contain a summary of the content item or the entire content item itself from the originating website. End users subscribe to and read these feeds in a feed reader. Some examples of popular feed readers are Google Reader, Bloglines and My Yahoo. Spotting a website that supports RSS is pretty easy just look for the orange icon in the far right hand side of your browsers address bar.

Why does RSS matter to me?
In the ever evolving world of corporate disclosure, RSS provides a way to keep your investors and analysts up to date on your company in a user friendly and efficient manner. Giving your website users the ability to subscribe to a feed of your press releases allows them to be notified of when you update the content on your site and gives them the opportunity to read the press release in there feed reader or to visit your site directly and read the press release there.

How do I get RSS on my site?
If you are interested in adding this module to your installation of Q4 Web send us an email to support@q4websystems.com or call us at 416-626-7829 (press 2 for support) and we’ll be happy to help you implement this new feature.

We’re pleased to announce a number of new features now available for Q4 Web. To learn more about each of the features listed below, please feel free to visit the link (if provided) or contact us for more information.

RSS Feeds Q4 WEB now includes RSS Feeds for your Press Releases, Presentations and Events. This means you can now offer your web site visitors an easy way to receive updates whenever information changes on your site. Example: http://www.q4websystems.com/AboutQ/RSSFeeds/
Google Maps Embed Google maps to show the location of your operations. Includes all of the features of Google maps, including satellite photography. Example: http://www.baffinland.com/MaryRiverProject/LocationMap/default.aspx
Photo Gallery Using the new Photo Gallery module, you can easily add and manage an unlimited number of photos. Clients typically use this for the large number of photos associated to projects and operations. Users are able to quickly flip between photos without having to reload the entire page. Example: http://www.baffinland.com/MaryRiverProject/PhotoGallery/default.aspx
Directors and Officers Module Adding this module to your site makes it easy to manage the members of your directors and officers and to add them to different groups. This module also allows you to add Low Res and High Res Photos of each management member. Example: http://income.newportpartners.ca/PortfolioHoldings/NPLP/default.aspx
Email Alerts for Reports, Events and Presentations In addition to receiving email alerts for press releases, you can now allow users to sign up for email alerts when you update your annual/quarterly reports, events, presentations or any other type of content you release on a regular basis.

Career Center Expand your web site to include job opportunities. Post jobs and manage candidate resumes. Example: http://www.inmetmining.com/aboutInmet/workingatInmet/default.aspx
EDGAR Filings in HTML If you’re listed on a US exchange, we now offer SEC filings in HTML rather than PDF and automatically update this information as you submit filings to EDGAR. This makes it easier for your users to access all of your filings. Example: http://www.agnico-eagle.com/English/Investors/RegulatoryFilings/SECFilings/default.aspx

We are pleased to announce G&S Minerals (GSML.PK) as our latest client. G&S Minerals issued a press release yesterday announcing they have selected Q4 Web Systems Q4 WEB platform to streamline their corporate disclosure and to provide more relevant and timely information to shareholders.

G&S Minerals will be launching on our platform in Q2 2008.

Below are the new features being pushed to your Q4 Press instance over the next few days – most you can see already. To learn more about what you can do with Press visit the Q4 Community.

Author “What’s Changed?”
Now Authors can quickly see what changes they have made and are able to compare their current version against all previous major versions.  

Minor Document Versions and Reverting
Authors are now able to track their own minor versions in the quick report. The Author can also now revert to any previous version of a press release quickly. 

Supervisor Role
Users can now be given Supervisor privileges which allow them to oversee all activity on all documents. This gives auditors and/or managers unrestricted to the Quick Report and sends notifications each time a press release is created. 

Secure and un-secure email alerts
Email alerts can now include messages in either a secure or unsecure format. If the message requires more security you can secure the alert so the message can only be viewed once inside Q4 Press. All email alerts also now include the senders name to help you prioritize alerts based on who they are coming from.  

Welcome Page
The new welcome page provides a friendly introduction for new users. It also includes a handy way for it to be dismissed (so you only see it once or twice). 

Easily Invite Users
Any existing user can now invite other people to collaborate on documents and create an account of their own.  When inviting a new user you can also add a custom message to make it more personable.

Joining Multiple Instances
You can now be a part of multiple instances in Press. This is very useful if you work with more than one company on their press releases and other regulatory documents.

Floating Comment Window
Adding comments is now easier thanks to a floating comment window. You can now move the comment input box around and the background is not obstructed by the grey screen.

Exporting to HTML
All documents can now be exported in HTML along with Microsoft Word. 

Cancel and un-cancel Press Release from the Archives
This means that even though the press release is finished you can put the press release in the cancelled bucket so that it should never be published.  You can also now un-cancel the press release put it back into workflow.

Have any suggestions for what you think the next feature of Q4 Press should be? Contact Us or leave a comment. Thanks!  

We’ve been quite busy this year and are pleased to announce that Explorator Resources (TSX: EXO) has recently launched on Q4 WEB.  Explorator Resources Inc. is a Canadian-based mining exploration company focused on building a strong portfolio of copper-gold Projects in South America.

This is our 6th client to launch on Q4 WEB this year and along with our successful launch of Q4 PRESS it’s no surprise that we’ve been named to Branham Group and Backbone magazine’s Top 25 up and coming software development companies.

While Catherine prepares for her well-deserved vacation, I’ll do the honours by posting this for her. Catherine was recently interviewed by CMA Management Magazine regarding corporate disclosure and electronic reporting in Canada. You can read the full article here.

I’m glad to announce that Q4 has been selected by the Branham Group and Backbone magazine as one of the Branham300 Top 25 Up and Comers. The list is composed of companies established within the past three years, no earlier than Jan. 1, 2004. These companies are not ranked; rather, they are showcased alphabetically as firms that show tremendous promise within Canada’s ICT industry.

You can download the full list here: http://www.backbonemag.com/files/PDF/Top_300_2008/top25-up_and_comers.pdf

Version 1.0 of Q4 Press was recently released based on all of the feedback that we have been receiving from the beta participants.  As part of releasing version 1.0 we’ve also launched a dedicated site for Q4 Press at www.q4press.com

As part of the launch we’re also offering a 30 day free trial. Just click on the Sign-up now to get things started.  Thanks to all of you who’ve been working with us during the beta of Q4 Press. We couldn’t have done it without you!

I read a great article on CMS Watch today that talked about migrating website content for a client when migrating to a new CMS system.

The author speaks about the inevitable awkward moment of the implementation process when someone pipes up and says “uh, what about the content?”

As part of our implementation service, we specifically bring this up with clients during the project’s kickoff.  We make it very clear that we will handle all the content migration and we also use the migration as an opportunity to train the client using some real-world examples.   The training happens on-site and right before our pre-production launch activities so the timing is perfect and the client is ready to use the tool by the time they go live.

We’ve always taken the approach that we’re not only selling a product, but we’re selling a service and do everything we can to make the migration to our platform as simple and seamless as possible to the client.

In addition to Q4 WEB providing accurate website records for Bill 198 compliance to reduce your risk surrounding corporate disclosure we also do all the little things that set our company apart from the sea of CMS companies out there.

I’ll be following up with some additional posts about our implementation process in general and other steps we take to manage migrations.