General HRSA Knowledge Gateway (KG) Website FAQs:
    I forgot my login and password. What should I do?
    How do I sign up as a new user on the HRSA Knowledge Gateway at www.HealthDisparities.net?
    I am signing up as a new user. Which groups should I join?
    I am already signed up as a user on the website. How can I gain access to additional areas of the
Virtual Office and subscribe to the associated listserv within the website?
    I was denied membership in a group. Why, and what should I do if I think the denial was made in error?

Listserv FAQs:
    What is a Listserv?
    How do I subscribe to the HRSA Knowledge Gateway @HealthDisparities.net listservs?
    How do I unsubscribe from one/some/all of the listservs?
    I am not receiving the listserv emails that I should receive. What should I do?
    My email address has changed. How do I update it so that listserv emails are sent to my new email address?

Virtual Office FAQs:
    How can I reduce the size of PowerPoint files to make them easier to upload and share?
    What is the best way to share documents using the Knowledge Gateway system?
    How do I upload a document to the Virtual Office?
    Why is it preferable to upload the documents to the Virtual Office and not email them via the listserv?
    It takes too much time to download a set of documents for a call. What is the best way to access these documents?
    Can any website user attach a document/set of documents to a Calendar event?
    How do I find out who is the Administrator of a group in which I am a member?
    Downloading files from the Virtual Office appears to be very slow. What can I do?
    What determines how long it will take to download a document from the VO?
    I am not able to download a document. What might the cause be?
    It takes me too much time to find the right document in the Virtual Office. Is there anything I can do to help make this process easier?

Reporting FAQs:
    How do I upload Collaborative reports to the Knowledge Gateway?

I forgot my login and password. What should I do?
To retrieve your user name and password automatically and securely, click on login help within the user Welcome box in the upper right corner:

This will bring you to a page where you can enter your email address and then provide the answer to your 'secret question' (specified during the new user signup process). Your login and password will display on the next page.

If the login information auto-retreival process does not work for you, please contact webmaster@healthdisparities.net and we will send your login information to you via email. Once logged in, be sure to go to Office/My Account from the main menu to check your secret question/answer for accuracy, spelling, etc.

How do I signup as a new user on the HRSA Knowledge Gateway website?
From the website home page at www.HealthDisparities.net, look for the user Welcome box in the upper right corner. Click on the new user signup link within this box:

The signup process consists of 2 steps. First, enter Contact and Health Center/Organization information as applicable:

1. Asterisks indicate required fields
2. If you are from a Health Center it is important to includes your UDS# for access to certain areas of the website
3. If you are not from a Health Center, don’t enter anything in the UDS# field. For example, don’t enter ‘N/A’ – just leave the field blank.
4. The email address entered here will be the email address to which all listservs emails are sent

Next, request your group memberships. Group membership is necessary for access to Virtual Office resources and subscription to the listserv(s):

1. See the next FAQ: I am signing up as a new user. Which groups should I join?
2. For information to help you decide whether to request membership in a group, hover your mouse cursor over the name of the group to display brief notes on access rules.
3. Group membership results in access to the Virtual Office as well as subscription to the associated listserv. You can opt out (unsubscribe) anytime by going to Office/Listserv.

Please note that membership requests for a number of groups are automatically approved based on user account information and will be processed within 24-48 hours.  Membership requests that require a group administrator’s approval may take longer.  Contact webmaster@HealthDisparities.net with any questions regarding your group membership requests. 

If you are new or existing Collaborative staff (HRSA/BPHC or state/regional PCA (Primary Care Association) staff), be sure to join your state group if one exists, any desired Specialty groups, and any other groups associated with pilots or other special projects in which you are involved.

If you are Collaborative faculty, we suggest joining the Specialty, Pilot and/or Planning groups in which you are involved. Your state group is another one to consider, as well as some of the National or other groups depending on your involvement with the Collaboratives.

If you are a public user not at all or only peripherally involved with the Collaboratives, you probably don’t need a website account; many of the resources available on the site are accessible without logging in, for example, the Library holds hundreds of relevant resources and supporting documents all available to the public.

I am already signed up as a user on the website. How can I gain access to additional areas of the Virtual Office and subscribe to the associated listservs within the website?
Joining a "group" allows website users to access restricted areas of the Virtual Office and results in automatic subscription to the associated listserv.

To request membership in a group, complete the following steps:

1. Login into the website and under Office on the main horizontal menu select My Account:

2. Click on the Group Memberships tab near the top of the screen:

3. Check the boxes next to groups you wish to join or uncheck boxes next to groups you wish to leave.  Hint: Hover your cursor over the Group name to view a description of the group and to find out more about membership restrictions:

4. Click the Save Changes button.

Please note that membership requests for a number of groups are automatically approved based on user account information and will be processed within 24-48 hours.  Membership requests that require a group administrator’s approval may take longer.  Contact webmaster@HealthDisparities.net with any questions regarding your group membership requests. 

If you are a health center team member who has been denied access to the a group, don’t despair!  As stated above, some groups are restricted to staff only (staff from PCAs, national staff from HRSA/BPHC, etc.).  Be assured that unless involved in a pilot or other special project, Health Center team members are typically able to access everything they need with automatically approved group membership if a valid UDS# is associated with the website account.  Examples of restricted areas automatically approved for Health Center team member access are ‘Specialty’ groups like Diabetes, Depression, CVD, Cancer, and Asthma.

Of course, it is possible that your group membership request was mistakenly denied.  If you feel the denial was made in error, send an email to webmaster@healthdisparities.net.  Please be sure to include in your email the name of the group in question, your association with the Collaboratives, and your association with the specific group.

How do I subscribe to the HRSA Knowledge Gateway HealthDisparities.net listservs?
To subscribe to a listserv, you should request membership in the associated group - subscription to the listserv is automatic with group membership approval. You only have access to those listservs associated with groups in which you hold membership.

To modify your group membership settings, go to Office/My Account from the main horizontal menu, and click on the Group Memberships tab. Check or uncheck the boxes and click on Save Changes to request changes to your group membership settings. To check or modify your listserv subscriptions, go to Office/Listserv from the main horizontal menu.

How do I unsubscribe from one/some/all of the listservs?
To modify your listserv subscriptions, first login to the website by entering your user name and password in the box to the upper right, then go to Office/Listserv from the main horizontal menu. Check or uncheck the boxes next to the listserv names and click on Save to subscribe or unsubscribe. (Check = subscribed; No check = not subscribed)

1. Login to the website by entering your user name and password in the box to the upper right.
2. Under Office on the main horizontal menu select My Account.
3. Make any necessary changes to your email address or other contact information.
4. Click on Save Changes.

Next, make sure you are a member of the necessary group.  Each group has an associated listserv, and only those listservs associated with groups in which you have membership will be available for you to subscribe or unsubscribe.  To do this:

5. Still within My Account, click on the Group Memberships tab near the top of the page.  This will bring up a list of groups with checkboxes next to each. 
6. Make sure the box next to the group in question is checked.
7. Remember to click Save Changes if you make any modifications.

Finally, check your listserv subscription settings.  To view and/or modify your listserv subscriptions:

8. Under Office on the main horizontal menu select Listserv
9. Check or uncheck the boxes next to the listserv names to subscribe or unsubscribe.
10. Click on Save to save your changes.

If the email address, group, and listserv subscription settings seem in order, it is possible that emails aren’t getting through to you due to spam or junk mail settings within your email application.  Check to make sure the emails aren’t being automatically routed into another folder instead of going to your inbox.

1. Login to the website at by entering your user name and password in the box to the upper right.
2. Under Office on the main horizontal menu select My Account
3. Make any necessary changes to your email address or other contact information.
4. Click on Save Changes.

How can I reduce the size of PowerPoint files to make them easier to upload and share?
PowerPoint files containing lots of graphics or high resolution photographs can become very large in size, making them difficult to share electronically. To potentially reduce the size of a PowerPoint file prior to uploading to this website or otherwise sharing via email etc., try compressing pictures within the PowerPoint application. Below are links to detailed instructions on how to compress pictures in Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 and 2007:

Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/HP030740421033.aspx

Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/HA101922001033.aspx#3

What is the best way to share documents using HealthDisparities.net?
The best way to share documents with other members of the community using the website and listserv is to upload the document(s) to the Virtual Office (VO). Any member of the group is able to add a file to the group VO by following these steps:

1. Login to the website, and under Office select Files.
2. Click the Add button near the top right of the screen, and enter all known information about the document.
3. Click the Save button at the bottom of the screen.
   

Hint: To draw group members’ attention to the document posted, send an email to the group listserv that describes the location of the document, i.e. the group name, folder and category (if specified).

How do I upload a document to the VO?
To upload a document to the VO, follow these steps:

1. Login to the website, and under Office select Files:

2. Click the Add button near the top right of the screen:

3. Enter the File Name (Document Title), Group/Folder/Category to indicate where in the Virtual Office the file will be saved, a Description of the document, and then Browse for the file. Finally, click the Save button at the bottom of the screen to begin the upload:

That's it! Once the file is uploaded, you and all other members of the group under which it was posted should see it in the main Virtual Office view while it's one of the "latest 5 files" uploaded, and also within the Files area of the VO on an on-going basis. The file will also come up in a search if a user performs a search using word(s) or a phrase that is within the document's title, description or file name.

1. Login to the website, and under Office select Calendar.
2. Click on the Paperclip icon next to the Event name. This can be done from the monthly view, or from the event detail view. Note that the Paperclip icon will not appear if the group administrator has not yet attached any files to the Calendar event.
   

If the group administrator(s) did not upload the call documents as a Calendar event attachment and instead posted them in the Virtual Office, it can be difficult to find the documents unless the group administrator provides the specific location (group/folder/category) and/or provides direct links. To look for documents posted in a specific group VO:

1. Login to the website, and under Office select Files.
2. In the My Groups menu on the left side of the page, click on the group name. This narrows your view of files to only those posted under that specific group.
3. If the document was posted recently, it will likely appear on the first Files page. If you don’t see it, use the menu at the bottom of the list to go to the next page of Files.
4. Once you locate the document, click Download to the right to save it locally.
   

1. Login to the website, and under Office select Virtual Office.
2. If the group name isn’t already highlighted in the My Groups menu on the left side of the page, click on it to select it.
3. In the Contacts box on the right side of the page, click on view group administrators.
4. A list of administrators for the group along with their contact information will display.

Downloading files from the Virtual Office appears to be very slow. What can I do?
Keep in mind that the file might be large, and might just take some time to download. Once the download begins, most download managers will display the file size. If the file is larger than a few hundred KB and especially if it is over 1MB, and you are on a dial-up connection, the download will take some time. Some very large files, for example call recordings or webcasts, can take a while even with a highspeed connection.

Some things that can help if the download seems unusually slow: first, confirm that you are not downloading any other files from any other sites while downloading from HealthDisparities.net. If the site appears to be very slow, try closing down all Internet browsers, log back in to the HealthDisparities.net website again, and reattempt the download. Finally, rebooting your computer might help.

1. The size of the document.
2. Your internet connection speed. Highspeed Internet connections (cable, DSL, T1, etc.) will allow you to download large files much more quickly than dial-up (phone modem) connections.
3. The number of other users accessing the website and downloading documents can reduce the overall download speed for the site.
4. Performance and bandwidth (Internet connection speed) of the servers hosting the website. We are constantly monitoring all of our servers to ensure optimum performance, and we perform regular maintenance and upgrades based on the results.

1. Your firewall settings. It is not uncommon for organizations to have a firewall that prevents certain documents from coming through; this has to be addressed individually with cooperation from your local IT administrators.
2. Your browser settings.  Sometimes your local download settings can cause confusion when downloading a document, particularly with PDF and PowerPoint files.  Instead of just clicking on ‘Download’, try right-clicking and choosing ‘Save File As…’ or ‘Save Target As…’ and save the document to your computer.
3. You are not able to download documents from the HealthDisparities.net website if you’re on a Macintosh computer and you’re using the Safari browser.  Try using Firefox for Macintosh, or another browser.

It takes me too much time to find the right document in the Virtual Office. Is there anything I can do to help make this process easier?
Use the different filters available in the Virtual Office to narrow your view of posted Files.

• Select the appropriate Group on the left menu bar. This will limit your view to content related to that group only, and will eliminate documents posted under other groups from your view.
• Remember that your initial view of the Virtual Office is an overview, and only the last few files posted under groups you belong to will display under Latest Files.  If the document was just posted, it likely will be displayed and accessible from here.
• To access files other that the ‘Latest’, click on Files (under the main Office menu, or in the top left menu box in the VO).  This will allow you to access many more files and additional details for each of them.
• If you know the name of the folder under which the document is posted, scroll down to the bottom of the page and select the relevant File Folder to further filter your view.
• If you also know the name of the category under the folder, click on the category drop down box towards the top right of your screen and select the right one. This will filter down the number of documents even further.
• The default listing of documents is ‘by the latest one uploaded showing up first’. If you know the exact name of the document, try using the ‘Alphabetical’ listing by clicking on the ‘Alphabetical’ tab at the top.

You can also Search through the files by entering search terms (words/phrase) in the box on the left. Note that this search is separate from the main website Search, which searches the website pages, Library documents, and Links. The Files Search only searches for documents posted in the Virtual Offices. The search is based on the details associated with the document, for example the Title, Author, and Description; the Files Search does not search the actual content of the documents themselves.

Search results for Virtual Office files is limited to 50 files. If your search results reach this limit, try adding a word and searching again.

How do I upload Collaborative reports to the Knowledge Gateway?
The HRSA Knowledge Gateway National Results Sharing Site at www.HDNR.org is the main location/method to upload Collaborative reports. Organizations login to this website separately with a unique organizational identifier. For FQHCs this is the health center UDS number. The www.HDNR.org website is accessible from the www.HealthDisparities.net website under the main 'Reports' menu item.  Collaborative teams across the nation use this web-based reporting website to upload their monthly reports. The data is compiled and aggregated on a monthly basis to produce useful information on health trends and show the impact of Collaborative methods on chronic illnesses in patient populations.

Please note that not all Collaboratives use www.HDNR.org for reporting. Some state based Collaboratives and Collaboratives in the beginning stages use other methods to acquire team reports, for example uploading to a Virtual Office. Please talk to your Collaborative support staff to clarify where and how your health center or participating organization should send monthly data and narrative reports.