READ ME DOCUMENT USERS GUIDE

Dakshana Foundations Alumni Network - DAAN Website URL: http://www.daan.dakshana.org

This document gives an overview to the Dakshana Alumni website to provide guidance to newly registered
members on the functionality available for networking and communication between members of the Dakshana
Alumni community.
The websites homepage contains a button labelled SITE MAP on the lower left hand corner of the screen.
Clicking on it reveals the websites layout and the publicly accessible information on the site. For DAAN members,
there are two buttons on the top right portion of the homepage LOGIN and REGISTER. New members, accessing
the website for the first time, need to click on the REGISTER button and complete the secure registration process
as directed. Already registered members, returning to the website on subsequent occasions, should click on the
LOGIN button and enter their User ID and Password to access the site.
Note: The User ID for all members is the Dakshana lifetime email address assigned to each scholar that stays with
the scholar for life. It is structured as follows:
First Name. Last Name. Year of Completion of Dakshana Coaching @ dakshana.alum.org
This email service is just a forwarding service. Each scholar would enter his/her own personal email address in
their public profile on the DAAN website and all mail would just forward to that system automatically.
Some students might find this User ID hard to remember. An easy workaround is to enable the Internet Explorer
AutoComplete feature on your individual PC by following the below steps:
1. Open Microsoft Internet Explorer.
2. Click Tools and then Internet Options.
3. In the Internet options window, click the Content tab.
4. Click the AutoComplete button.
5. Check or uncheck the options you wish to have or not have AutoComplete. Below is a brief explanation of
what each of the options is for.
Web page addresses AutoComplete for the address typed in the address bar
Forms Enable a user to fill out fields that are commonly completed such as e-mail, address,
phone number, etc.
User names and passwords on forms Any forms that are requiring usernames. This can be
helpful for users who frequently need to enter their username and password. However, can also
be a security risk if that computer is used or accessible by other users.
On successful initial website registration or subsequent login, a member is automatically taken to the My
Dashboard/Homepage. This is your virtual work-desk! Located under the Personal dropdown menu, this My
Dashboard/Homepage is where each member should return for all his/her website activities! When on this page,
on the right side of the screen, the member can access the following buttons:
Search Individual (By college or By name)
My Public Profile (View or Edit)
Members
Message Board
And for Dakshana/DAAN management staff, the following additional buttons are available:
Registration help (registered members are highlighted in yellow)
Add new college
Create guest member
User log history
Password recovery

For all Dakshana Alumni members: Please read and carefully follow instructions contained in the paragraph
below. Proper and full compliance in this regard will ensure more efficient networking, communication and
mutual self-help between members of the DAAN community and also facilitate assistance from
Dakshana/DAAN management when possible.
It is extremely important that all information requested in the Public Profile and the Private (Confidential) Profile
is properly and accurately filled in and updated whenever any changes occur. It is particularly important that the
following fields are completed accurately and cross-checked:
-

Personal email address

Home Address
Mobile and Home Phone numbers
Parents names
College hostel address
[The above mentioned fields must be absolutely accurate and correctly filled out and they must also be
updated in a timely fashion whenever changes occur. These fields are used by the Dakshana/DAAN offices
to send you mail, books and various communications from time to time. They will also be extremely useful
for members to contact each other for help and assistance in the future. So the importance of good
compliance here should be both obvious and relevant for all]

Upload recent photograph (should be passport/driving license photo showing the face clearly)
[This will help other members to recognize you on your college campus and/or at inter-college events]
Upload updated Resume/CV in PDF format
[This is essential for your own use and also to enable Dakshana/DAAN management to properly assist you
with Summer Internships and/or Job Employment opportunities when possible. Start early in 2nd year of
college to compile a Resume/CV that you can keep improving and refining over time]
Summer Internship Experience/Record to be properly filled out
[This will allow junior members of the DAAN community to contact you for advice and assistance with
summer internships when required. The export to excel file functionality will allow a 2nd year student to
compile a list of all 3rd year/4th year/graduated students who have undergone summer internships in
company ABC Ltd previously, for example, enabling him to contact these alumni seniors for help, advice
and guidance with his/her summer internship application to company ABC Ltd]
Private Confidential Academic Record to be properly filled out
[This is essential to have a consolidated/updated school and college academic summary record available
in one place for your own use and also to enable Dakshana/DAAN management to properly assist you
with Summer Internships and/or Job Employment opportunities when possible]

For all the above mentioned reasons, it is so very important that every Dakshana Alumnus member (including
those that have already graduated from college with an undergraduate college degree and have joined the
workforce) spends the time to properly complete and update (when changes occur) his/her public profile and
also his/her private (confidential) profile on the DAAN website at all times. This is the best way to build a
strong, inter-connected Alumni community dedicated to helping each other grow and succeed!! We already
have approximately 1050 DAAN members (as of Sept 2012) and this number is expected to grow exponentially
with each passing year. The DAAN website will be the glue that helps build the strong bonds between its
members to raise the level of achievement and success of the entire Dakshana/DAAN community as a whole.

Message Board allows you to send an email message to the following:

- Entire Alumni Network
- Individual
- Other than DAAN members
- My College Group (i.e. all other DAAN students studying in your college)
It also allows you to read/access messages sent by other members of the community.
Search Individual allows you to search for another DAAN member either By college or By name. A search
conducted By college will list all the DAAN members studying at that specific college! This can be extremely
useful in various situations!
Members lists the names of all registered DAAN members. The entire list of registered members can be sorted
by Last Name, First Name or Year of Coaching Completion by clicking on the specific column header for the listing.
A new Export to Excel File utility has been added that is available at the lower left corner of the screen when
the members listing is pulled up. A user can make a selection from the available fields to compile a specific
excel table with the required data only.
For Dakshana/DAAN management staff only:
My Dashboard/Homepage for admin staff only provides the following new additional functions for DAAN website
upkeep/maintenance/monitoring:
- Registration Help
- Add New College
- Create Guest Member (with admin rights)
- User(s) Log History
- Password Recovery
User(s) Log History allows the management staff to monitor DAAN website usage by the DAAN members. It
provides a useful tool to monitor how frequently its individual members are logging in to the website. A
report can be generated on a weekly or monthly basis, for example, to monitor the number of website
logins by the individual DAAN members. This is the best way for us to see and monitor if the DAAN member
community is actually making use of this website resource to interact, communicate and network among
them! Our hope is that DAAN website utilization will improve exponentially over time; this will indeed be a
measure of assessing the true success of this web project!!
Under the DAAN dropdown menu, users will find the following information sections:
-

English Communication
News and Events
Team Charts
DAAN Community
College Freshmen
Social Networking
College Activities
Work & Job Experience
Archives
Contact Us/Feedback

English Communication:
This is a new section created with multiple folders overview, speaking, writing, emails, resume writing,
interviewing, listening and reading. We strongly believe that English Communication skills, knowledge and
proficiency is vitally important to achieve success in the business environment in India and abroad and equally

relevant to building self-confidence and self-esteem for all DAAN members (juniors and seniors)! We plan to
make relevant and useful material available in this area for all DAAN students to access and use in their own
time and at their own pace, with a view to facilitating self-learning in English Communication skills. More
information and details on this project will be forthcoming in the near future!
News and Events:
Information and news will be catalogued in three folders DAAN newsletters, Latest News and Events &
Functions.
Team Charts:
Updated Dakshana and DAAN team charts are provided in this section.
DAAN Community:
Registered DAAN members are listed (with their profiles) under the Members tab. There is also a separate
module that allows conducting online Annual DAAN Council Elections Annual Elections tab.
College Freshmen:
This section provides relevant information and news on Financial Assistance & Scholarships and Orientation for
New Dakshana Graduates.
Social Networking:
This section provides a listing of the various blog sites used by the DAAN students under the Blogs tab, a Photo
Gallery where photos can be uploaded by all DAAN members and can be catalogued by calendar year, college
name and event/function, and Chat Window functionality.
Chat Window functionality is a powerful tool that allows two or more DAAN members located in different cities
and colleges to communicate and chat online using Instant Messenger style functionality. The DAAN Student
Council members can use the Chat Window to get together from time to time to discuss planning for a future
event or function or to discuss a specific topic of interest.
College Activities:
This section provides space to upload useful information on Study Materials, Achievements & Awards and
Volunteering for Dakshana Activities.
Work & Job Experience:
This section contains information on Summer Internships, Job Search and Post Graduate Studies.
Archives:
This provides space for Dakshana/DAAN admin staff to move dated but useful material to a separate folder for
archiving purposes.
Contact Us/Feedback:
This section provides names and contact information of senior DAAN Council members and for Dakshana/DAAN
management staff.
Ranjit Kumar
DAAN Mentor
Oct 14th, 2012
[Our gratitude to Seneca Global, Hyderabad for their continued help and kind assistance with this website project]