OPENCONF

Server Requirements

Apache or other* HTTP server PHP version 5.2 or newer MySQL version 5 or newer 3 MB of disk space for the OpenConf software, plus additional space for submission files 500 KB of database space per 100 submissions (actual amount will vary based on modules installed, number of reviewers, and other factors) The hosting account (web server) will also require: o Create/write access to openconf/config.php and openconf/data/* o MySQL privileges to: ALTER, CREATE, DELETE, DROP, INSERT, SELECT, TRUNCATE, UPDATE Additional requirements exist for using OpenConf's multilingual features

Client Requirements A JavaScript-enabled browser will allow the full functionality of OpenConf to be experienced. Browsers with JavaScript disabled will still be able to use all of OpenConf's functionality, however some user experience enhancements cannot be taken advantage of. Module Requirements Some modules may have additional requirements of their own. For example, the CAPTCHA module requires that you have your own reCAPTCHA API keys. Consult the module's README file for additional information. The following installation instructions are applicable if you choose to run OpenConf on your own server. OpenConf Hosting Service customers may simply ignore this page.
========= INSTALL ========= 0. Pre-Install: - Install and configure HTTP Server, PHP 5.2+, MySQL 5+ - Download OpenConf 1. Extract (unzip) OpenConf archive inside Web (HTTP) document root directory 2. Ensure Web server can create or write to: openconf/config.php openconf/data/ (and sub-directories) 3. Browse to http://[HOST]/openconf/ and follow web instructions See www.OpenConf.com/support/ for additional documentation, including a Chair's Guide

========= UPGRADE ========= From 3.x or later: 1. Backup your current OpenConf database and directory 2. Extract (unzip) OpenConf archive over top of current directory; your settings will remain intact, however code customizations will be overwritten 3. Sign in as Chair and browse to http://[HOST]/openconf/chair/upgrade.php Follow the instructions provided From 2.x or earlier: - Upgrade is not supported ============================ ETCETERA / TROUBLESHOOTING ============================ * Tested with PHP 5.2, MySQL 5, Apache 2 * Email is handled through PHP's mail() function. If email is not being received or you are seeing an error, check and test your PHP settings. * OpenConf does not limit the size of papers that may be uploaded; PHP however does. You will need to modify PHP's max file and form upload settings if you want to support larger files being uploaded; do not forget to restart the HTTP server when you update PHP setting. * OpenConf was developed using Apache. If you are using another HTTP server, you may need to modify the .htaccess files. * If you are uncomfortable having a file (config.php) with the database password inside the Web document space, you can move it elsewhere and simply modify the OCC_CONFIG_FILE define in include.php. * In order to use OpenConf's multilingual capability, PHP must be compiled with gettext, and the system have the proper locale(s) installed. See lib/locale/locale.inc for appropriate locales. * If you are running multiple instances of OpenConf, you should ensure the value of OCC_SESSION_VAR_NAME in config.php is different for each.

OpenConf Configuration
When initially installing OpenConf, you will set a number of configuration options. Once installed, you will be able to change these options, as well as make additional configuration changes. Most configuration options are available under the Settings heading on the Chair's main page, accessible right after signing in as Chair. General & Advanced Configuration OpenConf's general configuration settings are available to the Chair under Settings: Configuration. These settings are stored in the config table. If you are hosting OpenConf on your own server, you may also have access to additional OpenConf settings via the advanced link next to Settings: Configuration. The advanced link will allow you to modify any of OpenConf's settings, not just those available in the general configuration page. For example, see the Special Settings section below. Use care with the advanced option as no validation is made of the values entered. See Administrator Settings below to disable the advanced configuration functionality. Topics Topics must be set prior to opening up submissions or reviewer sign-up, as authors and reviewers must select relevant topics in order for the automated review assignment algorithms to work properly. You can set the the topics via the Settings: Topics Chair menu. Should you need to set more topics than spaces provided, you can increase the number of topics through the general configuration page mentioned above. Once submissions or reviewer sign up has been opened up, topics should no longer be changed or re-ordered it is however ok to rephrase a topic or add new ones to the end of the list. Opening & Closing Sign-In, Submissions, etc. OpenConf gives the Chair full control over when to open (or close) access to submissions, reviewer sign in, file uploads, etc. through Settings: Open/Close Status. These settings are stored in the status table. Module Settings Additional configuration and status settings may be available for installed modules. Access to these settings are usually available through the Settings: Configuration and Open/Close Status pages, or through the Settings: Modules page by clicking on the module name. Administrator Settings Additional settings are available in the openconf/config.php file. These settings are placed here in case OpenConf is separately administered and the Chair should not have the right to change them. This file may be moved outside the web document root. If you move it, make sure to update the value of OCC_CONFIG_FILE in openconf/include.php.

OCC_SESSION_VAR_NAME The session variable name to use for this instance of OpenConf. If you have multiple instances of OpenConf running on the server, you should make this unique for each instance.

OCC_INSTALL_COMPLETE Tracks whether the installation of OpenConf completed. After installing OpenConf, to re-install via the web interface, you will need to change this to 0. OCC_CHAIR_PWD_TRUMPS Allows the Chair to sign in as an author or reviewer using the Chair's password. OCC_ADVANCED_CONFIG Enables access to the advanced configuration settings by the Chair. OCC_DB_USER, OCC_DB_PASSWORD, OC_DB_HOST, OC_DB_NAME Database settings. OCC_DB_PREFIX Database table prefix, useful when multiple instances of OpenConf are in the same database.

A template for the config.php file is available in lib/config-sample.php. Special Settings Much of OpenConf's functionality is accessed and configured through the available web application links. There are however some configuration settings that are only available through the advanced configuration options. Below are some of the more useful ones.

OC_allowOrgConflict Allows a submission's author and reviewer to have the same organization name (default: 0 = treat same org in conflict) OC_authorsMax Maximum number of authors permitted per submission (default: 9) OC_logSQL Logs all (non-SELECT) database (SQL) calls to a log table (default: 0 = do not log) OC_mailCopyLast Forwards to the Confirm Email address a copy of the last bulk email sent (default: 0 = do not forward) OC_queueEmails Queues emails for delivery, storing each in the database (default: 1 = queue messages) OC_subBackupEmail Email address to receive a copy of submissions SQL statements (default: empty = do not email)

OpenConf Chair's Guide

The Chair manages the conference process. Once signed in, the Chair is able to access a series of menus (links) that allow setting various options (e.g., open/close submission and reviewer sign in, topics, accepted file formats, etc.), viewing submissions, assigning reviewers and advocates, emailing authors and reviewers, accepting/rejecting submissions, viewing reports, and so on. We encourage you to review our online demo or your own OpenConf installation to familiarize yourself with the various Chair options and features. The guide below, although not intended to be comprehensive, should help you get started. Note that in OpenConf, the term advocates (aka champions) is used to mean a member of the Program Committee. And references to Review Committee members (herein "reviewers") will typically also include Program Committee members. Getting Started Following are the typical first steps a Chair will want to take once OpenConf is installed: 1. Sign in to OpenConf. Use the credentials provided when installing OpenConf, or if you are using the OpenConf Hosting Service, the username and password entered in the sign up form. Should you forget the username or password, you may recover the information by clicking the "forgot" link next to each field. 2. Change Password. If someone else set up OpenConf for you, you may want to click Settings: Password and change your password. 3. Review Configuration. Under Settings: Configuration, you can make changes to various OpenConf configuration settings. At a minimum, you should change the following: o Chair Email o Confirm Email o Event Short Name o Event Full Name o Event URL o Reviewer Sign Up Keycode o Program Committee Sign Up Keycode o File Formats A description of each setting appears next to their entry in the Configuration page.
4. Install/Activate Modules. Under Settings: Modules, you will find additional functionality that can be

enabled to enhance your use of OpenConf. For information on a module, click on the module's version number. A module can only be used after it is installed and activated by clicking the install and activate links. Configure a module's settings by clicking on the module's name or config link. If you do not want a module's features enabled but would like to keep the data it has stored, click the deactivate link. Should you no longer need a module's functionality or data, click the uninstall link. 5. Set Topics. Prior to opening up submissions or reviewer sign in, the topics for the event must be set. Topics are used in the automatic assignment of submissions to reviewers and for some reports. The default maximum number of topics is 30. This number may be increased in Settings: Configuration. 6. Open Submissions and Committee Sign Up. Once you have OpenConf properly configured, you will want to open up submissions, and for reviewers to sign up for an account. This can be done by clicking Settings: Open/Close Status, changing the appropriate options to open, and clicking the Change

Options button. The appropriate options at this stage are typically: New Submission, Edit Submission, Upload File, Review Committee Sign Up, Program Committee Sign Up. 7. Invite Reviewers. You will now want to (directly) email invitations to potential reviewers & program committee members asking them to sign up for an account. Don't forget to include their respective sign up keycode (which you set in the Review Configuration step above) in the invitation. We will leave the call for submissions in your capable hands, and don't forget to add a link to OpenConf on your web site. Closing Submissions, Starting Reviews When it comes time to close submissions, you can revisit Settings: Open/Close Status and set New Submission and File Upload to Closed. You may want to leave Edit Submission open so that authors can update their email address, organization, etc.. Authors will not be able to edit the submission's title or topics if New Submissions is closed so as to prevent confusion for the Chair or reviewers (see the advanced OC_subNonEditFields setting to change this behavior). The Chair may however edit submissions by visiting the detailed submission page (accessible via Submissions: List Submissions) and clicking the Edit Submission button next to the submission ID. If all review and program committee members are signed up by now, you may want to close the committee sign-up options. This would also be an appropriate time to manually set any submission/reviewer conflicts; reviewers with the same email address or having the same organization name as a submission's author, are automatically considered in conflict for that submission. You may relax the same organization match by changing the advanced OC_allowOrgConflict setting. Now comes time to assign program committee members and reviewers. You have the option of doing this manually or automatically; either way, you can manually make changes after the initial assignment. We suggest assigning program committee members (advocates) first as they can then be automatically assigned to also review those submissions. Look for the Assign Reviews and Assign Advocates menus under the Assignments section. You can check whether there are any missing assignments as well as track the status of submitted reviews and program committee recommendations by clicking the List/Unassign Reviews and List/Unassign Advocates menus. Via the Email menu, you can email all reviewers & advocates, or just those with missing reviews/recommendations. The Reviewer Guidelines may be edited directly in the file review/guidelines.php. Accepting/Rejecting Submissions Once all reviews and recommendations have been received, you may want to close committee sign-in, via Settings: Open/Close Status, to prevent further changes. Next, you can Review Scores & Accept/Reject under the Selection section. Here you have a view of all submissions, including the average review score with weight, advocate recommendation, and program committee decision. By clicking on the score, or program committee decision, you will be taken to a page where you can view all reviews & comments for that submission as well as set/change the program committee decision.

Once all decisions are finalized, you can visit the Email menu on the Chair's main page to send out acceptance/rejection notifications. Security A word about security in Openconf ... All passwords are stored in hash form. Lost passwords cannot be recovered, but may be assigned a new one. The Chair is encouraged to change the chair account password, and the review and program committees keycodes; the latter so as to avoid fake sign-ups. Changing the default chair username during installation is also a prudent step. OpenConf does not encrypt the communication traffic between a user's Web client (browser) and the OpenConf server. In order to have this additional layer of security, your Web server must support SSL and have a certificate available. If you are using the OpenConf Hosting Service, this is available as an option. If multiple instances of OpenConf are being run on the same server, the value of OCC_SESSION_VAR_NAME in openconf/config.php should be made unique in each to prevent crossinstances access.

OpenConf Modules
Modules provide a way to add functionality to OpenConf beyond its core capabilities. Modules may be installed on an as-needed basis by clicking the Settings: Modules link on the Chair's home page, and then on the install link next to the module name. An installed module cannot be used until it is activated by clicking the activate link next to the module name, after it is installed. A deactivated module will retain the module's settings and data, however its functionality will not be accessible. Following is a list of modules included with OpenConf Professional Edition: Acceptance facilitates the setting of different acceptance options for submissions. For example, change Accept to Accept as Paper, and add Accept as Poster. Email groups are changed appropriately as well. Advocate Assignments allows advocates to make review assignments. Bidding enables reviewers and advocates to bid on submissions and identify those in conflict. Additional automated assignment algorithms are also provided for the Chair to make review/advocate assignments based on bidding preferences. CAPTCHA adds a CAPTCHA verification to the submission form so as to ensure it is being submitted by a person. This module uses the reCAPTCHA mechanism, which requires that you sign up for a reCAPTCHA account and enter your account API keys into this module's settings. OpenConf Hosting Service clients already have an API key configured. Custom Forms allows submission and review form fields to be hidden. Discussion provides committee members and the Chair a means of conducting online discussions about submissions. Discussions are threaded, with one thread per submission. File Type verifies file uploaded is in valid format. IEEE eCopyright provides author hand-off to IEEE's eCopyright system. MultiFile adds support for multiple file upload types (e.g., review file, copyright waiver, final paper, etc). Individual controls are provided to open/close uploads, allow reviewer access, select file formats, and choose whether to publish as part of the proceedings or program. Proceedings facilitates publishing an online proceedings (listing) of submissions for each acceptance option. Program facilitates building and publishing an online program. Both a full and at-a-glance program is included. Rebuttal allows authors to view and provide feedback (i.e., a rebuttal), in aggregate, to reviews received. Reviewers may also be provided an opportunity to follow-up to the author's rebuttal. Advocates, if enabled, are able to view all rebuttal responses for assigned submissions. Reviewer Upload allows reviewers to upload a review file (e.g., annonated submission) as an additional means of feedback to authors.

Submission Type enables the Chair to set different submission types (e.g., paper, poster), which an author will choose from when making the submission. Additional information on a module is available by clicking the module version number under Settings: Modules.