Settings & Configurations Checklist

To use Viper most effectively, it is important to configure its many options and settings to best align with your business and processes. Additionally, there are several recommended steps that should be taken to ensure your users can build and manage programs quickly and efficiently.

Initial Configuration

As part of Viper's initial setup, you should review the following:

• settings for each office
• settings for each employee (users), including headshots and signature images
• costing, pricing, and tax settings
• currency defaults
• global contact information and notification settings
• customizable terms
• destinations served by your business
• ensure clients, vendors, and hotels are loaded
• ensure the Content Library is loaded with proposal descriptions and pricing
• Program Templates

Configuring Settings in Admin Site

Your Admin Site URL is your standard Viper URL with "admin" added to the end of your portal name. For instance, if your standard Viper Site URL is http://somecompany.viperdmc.com, your Admin Site URL is http://somecompanyadmin.viperdmc.com. Only users with administrator privileges have access to the Admin Site, so please contact Viper Support if you need administrator privileges added to your username.

Viper's Admin Site offers many configurable options and user management tools. It is essential that you review and configure the following areas in the Admin Site:

• Offices: Go to the Offices & Employees tab to view your offices. You may have a single office or multiple offices. Click on an office to view and edit office settings. 
• Click the "Edit Office Information" button in the top right to edit basic information for the office, such as phone number, website and office logo.
• In the Currencies tab, you can manage default conversion rates for various currencies. If you do not deal with foreign currency, you can skip over this tab.
• In the Address tab, be sure to enter an accurate address for the office. This address is used in a couple of instances throughout Viper, such as in Contracts and email notifications.
• In the General Settings tab, you can set a default margin/markup for new products and packages, as well as a default client message that clients see when viewing a proposal on the Viper Client Site. Both of these settings serve as defaults and can be overridden in Viper as needed.
• In the Tax Rates tab, you can enter tax rates. You should enter all tax rates that may be used when entering pricing. 
• In the Costing Control tab, you can configure the columns of your costings. You can rename columns and choose which columns are visible or editable internally, and which columns should be shown in the client version of the costing.
• Employees: In the Offices & Employees tab, you can click the [All Employees] link in the left column to view all your Viper users. Click on a user to view their contact information, user credentials, and permissions.
•  In the Contact Information tab, you can set general contact info, such as name, title, phone, and email. An email address is required. 
• In the System Account tab, you can change the user's username and password.
• In the Security & Permissions tab, you can control user permissions. There are Administration Roles, which are applied across all offices and Office Roles, which are specific to an office. Note that users with the "Administrator" role have access to the Admin Site. Click here to learn more about permissions and roles.
• In the Images tab, you can upload a headshot and signature for each user. These images appear in the Client Site when the user is assigned to a program in certain roles.
• Site Settings: In the Settings tab, you can manage a number of system wide settings. Be sure to review all fields on the Site Settings page and ensure they are complete and accurate.
• Customizable Terms: In the Settings tab, click the [Words] link in the left menu to view the many terms that can be customized in Viper. These include employee role descriptions (such as "Salesperson" and "Program Manager") and program statuses.

Configuring Destinations in Viper Internal Site

While most settings and configuration options are set in the Admin Site, Destinations are configured in the Internal Viper Site for each office. You must log into an office to edit the Destinations for the office.

Destinations are used throughout Viper to organize content, filter programs, and more. For vendors, hotels and content library items, you can specify which destinations each is available in. When working on a program, Viper will filter available vendors, hotels, and content (descriptions and pricing) based on the destinations selected for the program. This is why it is vital to configure your destinations properly.

To configure Destinations, you must log into each office and go to the Destinations tab. Destinations are organized by region. Depending on your preference, you can have a single region or many regions. The same is true with destinations; you can have one destination or many. To determine how you should enter destinations, you should consider your Content Library content (descriptions and pricing), vendors, and hotels. The intent behind destinations is to provide intelligent filtering when building programs and to enhance reporting. If an office serves a small geographical area, and all of your content, vendors, and hotels are relevant to a single destination, you may only need to enter a single region and destination. If an office serves a large geographical area, then you will likely need to create multiple destinations. Multiple destinations help prevent salespersons from proposing services, content, and vendors that may not be applicable to the destination(s) of a given program.

Customize your Proposal Content and Client Site

There are many ways to customize the look of your proposals, as well as the Client Site (where you deliver your Viper proposals to your clients). Click here to learn more about customizing your proposal content and Client Site.

Load Clients, Vendors, and Hotels

As part of the data load process, the Viper Data Load Team will load your clients, vendors, and hotels into the system. You can always add additional records individually and update existing ones at any time in the future. Vendors and hotels are used when entering pricing and managing the logistics for a program, which is why it's important to have them loaded into Viper. Please contact Viper Support if you need help loading clients, vendors, or hotels. 

Load Content Library - Descriptions and Pricing

Loading your Content Library with attractive proposal descriptions and accurate pricing is the key to building proposals quickly. The Viper Data Load team will help you load proposal descriptions for your offerings and services. We can also provide a "Pricing Worksheet" that allows you to enter your product pricing into an Excel format for bulk upload to Viper. While the Viper Data Load team helps with an initial loading of your content, you are responsible for entering any additional content as needed and for keeping existing content updated in the future. (There are several reports available in the left menu of the Content Library tab to help you manage your content and keep it updated.)  Whether you import products using the Pricing Worksheet or enter products directly into Viper, you and your team will need to combine the products into any packages that you wish to create.

Click here to learn more about adding proposal content to Viper.

Click here to learn more about adding pricing to Viper.

Of course, your Content Library does not need to be 100% complete before you begin building proposals. You can create proposals and build content as needed in the Content Library, then drop the content and pricing into proposals.

Build Program Templates

In conjunction with the Content Library, you can also use Program Templates to streamline proposal building. You can create new Program Templates in the Programs tab. 

Click here to learn more about Program Templates.

Conclusion

To effectively use Viper, it is important that you have completed the following steps:

1. Review Viper settings and user permissions in the Admin Site. Configure Destinations in each office's Internal Viper Site.
2. Load clients, vendors, and hotels.
3. Load your Content Library. While the Content Library does not need to be 100% completed, it should contain the bulk of your content and pricing. Combine products into packages as needed.
4. Build Program Templates.

Once you've reviewed and completed the Setup Checklist, you're ready to begin building programs. Click here to learn about building and managing programs and proposals.