Starting off with Summit Software

Which version to install:

While evaluating the software prior to your purchase, you may have seen only the international version. Before you start using the software in your events, you will want to update to the latest version for your geographical region. You should visit the Software Updates page to make that selection, and check this page occasionally for updates.

Registration of the software:

It is important that someone at your organization understand the software registration process. All you need to know is found on this page.

What's in the installation:

By default, each Summit program is installed in a folder in your root directory of your Local Disk.

Summit Event Manager Pro is installed in C:\semp;
Summit event Manager Light is in C:\seml
Summit Central is in C:\summit

Also in these directories you may find:

• the user manual;
• essential support files (e.g. sempmie.mde, semptmpl.mdb);
• the demonstration event or database file (demo.eve, demo.mmd);
• HTML pages to use as templates for your online registration pages (as well as a document detailing the specifications for each field);
• some MS Word documents that you may find useful as guidelines for communicating with participants in your events.

Please have a look in your installation folder and familiarize yourself with its contents.

Creating new event and database files:

During your evaluation of the software, you may have examined the demo data without ever creating a new file of your own. To create a new event file or Summit Central database, click the File button on the first menu, then select New.

Maintaining your files:

Compacting and repairing a database are essential to keeping it small, fast, and error-free. Utilities to make this process easier are a part of the Summit package. The steps for doing this are covered in the User Manual, but we find that many users forget how important it is. We recommend forming an early habit of carrying this out regularly, especially during periods of heavy use. (Note: Users of Access 2007 will find an option to compact the file automatically each time it is closed.)

Event files: Only one person needs to take responsibility for compacting and repairing your active event files. The utility to do this is found by clicking the File button on the Main Menu.

Application files: Every user's individual installation of each Summit application needs occasional attention, also, since the application itself is essentially an Access database. In your Start menu is a Summit Event Manager folder, which contains an icon called Compact and Repair Software. Clicking it once a week is all the maintenance your Event Manager program needs.

Sending Email:

Set up Outlook — Summit software uses MS Outlook as its email client. Revisions of Outlook and Windows have created a variety of confusing configurations that may require special handling before Access (and Summit) can communicate with Outlook. The most common reason for error messages is not having Outlook's CDO (Collaboration Data Objects) installed. This topic is fully treated here.

Install Express ClickYes — Outlook's security measures require confirmation of individual messages being sent by another application. This is the best way to override this and to provide almost instant confirmation as these messages go out. This free utility is on the Eventek CD or can be downloaded here.

Avoid this common error:

Summit must be installed on each user's local hard disk. Never install a working copy of Event Manager or Summit Central on a shared area of your server. (If a copy is saved on your server, designating it as Read-Only will prevent its being opened.) Sharing the same image of the software can have unexpected results, including software failure and data loss.