A2Z

A2Z is a complete trade show exhibit management system.

Abila and A2Z have jointly developed a baseline integration offering between NetForum Enterprise and A2Z.

This integration is built based on the following business objectives:

  • Client wants to manage its Exhibit floorplan, priority points, and other exposition management related activities in a2z.
  • Client wants its exhibitors to be able to reserve booths online in a2z.
  • Client wants to manage all the exposition related accounts receivables in a2z.
  • Client wants its staff to be able to see key customer expo activities from a2z in NetForum.

A2Z Features

  • online tradeshow floor plans
  • online booth sales, booth transfers

Client Tasks

  • Client should have valid user license for NetForum.
  • Client will need to purchase xWeb license from Abila.
  • Client should have purchased a2zShow. a2zShow is the only product for which the integration is available.
  • Client agrees that they will use a2zShow to manage their entire business of selling booths and accepting payments, booth reservations and assignments, booth personnel, tracking of violations, ranking of exhibitors etc.
  • Client agrees not to create any Exhibit record and booth prices in NetForum and does not intend to sell booths from NetForum.
  • Client will need to be on active support agreement with Abila (for clients after implementation).

Abila Tasks

  • Abila will create 3 custom tables to hold A2Z history data and 3 child forms on a custom tab "a2z history" on Organization profile page to display custom history data.
  • Abila will set the ExhibitIntegration system option to point to the A2Z product.
  • Abila will add a2z Exhibitor Flag on Organization Demographics Edit form and hyperlink on Organization Profile form.
  • Abila will deploy these customizations to client's sites before A2Z team starts its part of the implementation for integration
  • If hosted, Abila will provide xWeb credentials for A2Z team to use to communicate with the client's NetForum sites. If client is hosting NetForum, this will be client's responsibility.

Usage and Instructions

This section describes the integration from the perspective of association staff user working with NetForum and A2Z.

1. Account/Company Synchronization

Accounts/Companies will be pulled from NetForum into a2z by a2z:

  • Periodically, for example, every night
  • On demand, i.e., exhibits coordinator can click on a button in a2z to pull the latest information about all of the companies from NetForum into a2z.

NetForum allows the Client staff to flag the companies (Organizations) that should sync with a2z. a2z pulls only these companies. Exhibits staff may make changes to the company records in a2z and would like to retain such changes. Hence, a2z will pull only new companies from NetForum into a2z and will not overwrite the information about existing companies in a2z.

If exhibits staff decides to add a new company in a2z, or allow a potential exhibitor to add a new company record in a2z then Client exhibits staff will also add this company/Organization in NetForum (manually). At that time, Client exhibits staff will copy cst_key for this new company from NetForum and enter it into Company Number field in a2z for this new company record.

2. AR Activities

Client will conduct all of the AR activities for expos in a2z. This includes orders, invoices, statements, & payments. GL entries will be applied directly from a2z to the client's accounting system. NetForum will not store or be involved in creation or transfer of these General Leader entries.

3. Show a2z Activities (History) in NetForum

NetForum will contain three custom tables: a2z Booth History, a2z Order History and a2z Overall History. Using NetForum xWeb methods, a2z will push data into these tables every night.

NetForum will provide a tab "a2z history" on Organization Profile screen. This tab will show 3 child forms displaying booth history, order history and overall history from a2z, as shown in the screenshot below:

A2z history tab

4. Hyperlink to Exhibitor Activities page in a2z from NetForum

NetForum will provide a link to a2z from Organization Profile screen. This link will take the user to a page in a2Z site to display summary of activities of the Company in a2z, as shown in the screenshot below:

A2zscreen1.gif

Additional Services

The following functions are not considered as *baseline* offering. However, they can be accomplished as enhancements/customizations to the baseline offering with a fee. Detail design between the client, Abila and A2Z is required before a price estimate can be provided.

  • Bring G/L information back to NetForum

For clients who would like to bring general ledger information back to NetForum, Abila and A2Z will work with the client to define the detail implementation. The goal is to bring only general ledger information and not all the exhibit related information (payments, booth sales, invoices, etc) to NetForum to avoid duplicate processing and complexity.