The Vable Glossary

Common words seen in the Vable platform and support documentation and what we mean by them

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API or “application programming interface”

External applications integrated directly into the Vable database which contribute to the content or functionality of Vable. For example, publisher APIs can allow users to search against the full text of articles directly within the Vable platform without first having to set up Sources or email subscriptions from that publisher.

Account Library

This is a subset of Sources in the database which include your private Sources, any public Source added to the database by your Administrators, all Sources that are directly referenced by Topics on your account and those which have been selected from the All Sources library and added to the Account Library by an Administrator. The Account Library acts as a Custom Search Filter on the Articles search for limiting your results exclusively to articles from Sources within your Account Library.

Account Settings

Only accessible to Global Administrators, these include default Publish Settings, the Label Manager, Taxonomy Manager and End User Settings which are applied to, and affect, the entire platform.

Alert / Newsletter

A delivery of content sent via email from the platform. These allow users to receive relevant current awareness updates or need-to-know information straight into their inbox. See also: Curated Newsletters, Automated Alerts, Forwarding Alerts, Personal Alerts.

Alert Topic

A type of Topic designed to be used in a single Alert or Newsletter. Alert Topics cannot be shared to MyVable. They can be cloned or converted into a General Topic if required.

Archive

Previously published editions of Alerts and Newsletters in their published form, accessed from the archive within the Alert detail view. Archives include publish and activity reports and can be republished to users.

Articles

All individual content items in the Vable platform. Articles are automatically created from Sources or Inbox Rules which have extraction applied. Individual articles can also be uploaded into the platform.

Automated Alert

A delivery of content sent via email from the platform on a set schedule.

Boolean Searching

Vable allows all Administrators to construct Articles Searches using Boolean logic. The operators ‘AND’, ‘OR’, ‘NOT’ are all accepted as well as their alternate representations:

  • + AND

  • - NOT

  • || OR

Clone

This action saves time when you want to create a copy of an existing item. This option is available for General Topics, Alert Topics and article searches.

Components

Components are the individual elements of a search, Alert or Newsletter. These include Topics and recurring Section Headers and Body Text within Alerts and Newsletters and the queries and filters applied to searches.

Curated Feed

A custom Source into which individually selected articles can be added for inclusion in Topics and Newsletters.

Curated Topic

A type of Topic created from a Curated Newsletter which contains all articles published in the linked Newsletter. Curated Topics can be added to multiple Newsletters and Alerts, added to Shared Dashboards and made available on MyVable for use in Personal Dashboards and Alerts.

Curated Newsletters

A delivery of content sent via email from the platform which grants Administrators full control over each publish. Administrators can review, edit and/or exclude articles, or add other useful information before publishing. These are excellent for precision client- or industry-news where results need to be checked and/or formatted.

Custom Search Filters

Custom Search Filters are reusable groupings of publishers or Sources that are created and managed by Global Administrators. These can be utilized by all Administrators on the Article Search page to improve and focus search results.

Database Retention Period

This refers to the period of time in which we store articles in our database. Vable stores articles in the database for up to two years. This value is set on individual Sources and is displayed within a Source’s detail view under ‘Article Retention’.

Detail View

From a list view, clicking on the title of an item, for example a Source or Newsletter, will open the detail view of the item. Within the detail view you’ll find information about the item and some quick action options in the left-hand pane. Additional details can be found and managed within the center sections.

End Users

The most common role assigned to user profiles in Vable, End User is the role given to those users who do not have administrator access to the Vable platform. End Users cannot log into the Administrator interface. If your organization has a subscription to the MyVable self service platform, End Users can be permitted to log into this interface and can choose to follow Topics, subscribe to administrator-managed Newsletters, and create and manage their own Personal Alerts from a list of Topics.

Filters

An efficient and sophisticated way of creating focused searches or narrowing results based on specific fields. Each list of filters is relevant to the specific page in which it sits. On the Articles Search page you have the option of adding some filters as inclusions or exclusions using the three-state checkboxes. Some filters such as Language, Company or Industries are created by Vable using a third party natural-language processing (NLP) service. Others are created by Global Administrators, for instance, Labels and Taxonomy.

Forwarding Alerts

Created from Inbox Rules, these automatically forward emails received from external vendors onto End Users in their original format with options to add and remove text as necessary. Tracking is applied to allow Administrators to evaluate the use of the titles.

General Topic

A type of Topic which can be used in multiple Newsletters and Alerts, added to Shared Dashboards and made available on MyVable for use in Personal Dashboards and Alerts.

Global Administrator

A type of Administrator which has full management rights over all aspects of the Vable platform. These Administrators can create other Global Administrators, make ‘global’ changes to platform-wide Account Settings and manage all Topics and Newsletters, regardless of applied permissions.

Groups

Individual user profiles can be connected to one or more Manual or Automatic Groups for efficiently managing Alert/Newsletter subscriber lists and MyVable permissions. Manual groups are created and maintained by Administrators whereas Automatic Groups are created and managed via Active Directory integrations.

Inbox Rules

Just like other email clients, such as Outlook, Vable Inbox Rules set the parameters for which emails coming into a Vablemail address will be grouped together. Inbox Rules also determine how the system will process the emails matching that Rule.

Keywords

These are created and applied to English-language articles by a third party natural-language processing (NLP) service. They help populate Vable filters, and can be used as inclusions or exclusions on article searches.

Label/Label Manager

Global Administrators can create and manage a custom label tree for organizing information on the platform. All Administrators can apply labels to Alerts, Topics, Dashboards, Inbox Rules and Sources for efficient sorting and searching on their associated list views. Labels can also be made visible on the MyVable self service platform, providing End Users with easy navigation to items of interest.

List View

When navigating into each of the main pages you will land on a list view of items. By default you will see a subset of items, for example Alerts you manage, use the radio buttons in the top left corner to switch between all items and the subset list. Search within the list views utilizing the quick filters in the left-hand pane, the text search field and additional filtering options within the Add Filters menu. By default list views display 50 items per page, this can be updated in the bottom left of the list.

Manage Columns

On each list view, the settings cog in the top right of the table allows Administrators to personalize the information shown in terms of which columns appear in the list and in which order.

Managers

Administrators can be added as Managers to Newsletters, Topics and Dashboards to provide visibility on who is responsible for managing each item. Items can also be restricted to be edited only by the Managers and Global Administrators. See also Owners.

Match Case Search

When applied, this feature on the Articles Search page will return results which exactly match the case of each letter in the search query. This applies to both capitalized and lowercase letters.

MyVable

Vable’s self service platform designed to give your End Users visibility of the resources available to them and control over the content they receive.

Newsletter Curator

These users have limited access to the Administrator platform to curate, preview and test publish Newsletters for which they have been made a Manager.

Owners

Administrators who create a Topic, a shared Newsletter or Alert or a shared Dashboard will be assigned as the item’s Owner by default. This indicates the primary individual other Administrators should contact with questions or feedback. Owners can be reassigned on any object with the exception of Alert Topics which automatically inherit this value from the associated Alert’s Owner information. See also: Managers.

Personal Alerts

A custom Alert associated with a single user profile, composed of Topics created by Administrators. Personal Alerts can be created and managed by Administrators within the Administrator platform and/or by End Users via the MyVable self service platform.

Preview

An Alert or Newsletter display within the Vable Administrator platform which allows Administrators to view and proofread an Alert or Newsletter as it will appear in subscribers’ inboxes before publishing.

Reports

Vable has incorporated many ways to produce and manage statistics about your current awareness usage. The Publish Report provides statistics for Alert and Newsletter publishes while the Activity Report provides statistics on content engagement (article click-throughs). More detailed information for individual publishes of an Alert can be accessed from the Publish Archive & Reports section within the Alert’s detail view. All reporting data can be exported.

Searchable Content Period

This refers to the period of time in which an article can be searched for in the platform, for example within the Articles Search page. Content is searchable in the Vable platform for up to one year, with some exceptions.

Shell

An empty Newsletter or Topic which has a title but is awaiting components to complete setup.

Source

A Vable Source is any individual web page URL or RSS feed added to the Vable library for automated monitoring. A Source can also be a Curated Feed, containing articles handpicked by Administrators. Sources can be private to an organization or added to the public Vable Source library.

Source Topic

A one-to-one connection between an individual Source and a Topic. All articles from the Source are fed into the Topic with no search queries or filtering applied. Additional searches cannot be saved into Source Topics.

Standard Administrator

These users can run searches, manage End Users, create and amend their own Alerts and Newsletters (as well as any others which have not been locked down), set up Vable Inbox Rules, and view and export Publish and Activity Reports.

Submit a Ticket

This feature allows Administrators to quickly request assistance from the Vable team. The option can be found in the left-hand pane of Sources and Topics. When utilizing this feature please include detailed information about your query, note that a link to the item will automatically be provided to Vable. Responses will be sent to you via the in-app chat if you are still logged into the platform when the Vable team responds, or to your email address.

Taxonomy/Taxonomy Manager

Where applicable, Global Administrators can create a custom taxonomy tree. The taxonomy terms can be applied to Sources and Inbox Rules by all Administrators and any content items connected to the Source or Inbox Rule will then inherit the associated taxonomies. The custom taxonomy appears as a filter set on the Articles Search page.

Test Publish

A publish of an Alert or Newsletter which is sent exclusively to the Administrator performing the test publish and which does not clear the contents from the Alert/Newsletter. This is useful for reviewing how an email will look in an email client prior to performing a full publish of the Alert/Newsletter to subscribers.

Third-Party Publishers

Any external entity which produces content being fed into the Vable platform. This includes free or subscription-based services being routed in via RSS feeds, web page crawling, emails and uploaded content items.

Users

There are four levels of user access to help organizations manage the Vable platform and ensure that everyone has the appropriate permissions. See also: Global Administrator, Standard Administrator, Newsletter Curator, End Users.

Vable Inbox

A Vable product for managing email subscriptions. Within the platform the Vable Inbox displays all inbound emails from which Inbox Rules can be created for forwarding or content extraction.

Vablemail

An email address for routing subscriptions into the Vable Inbox.

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