How ProfNet Works / My Organization

In the My Organization section, you can manage the users and experts within your organization.  The level of control you have over those aspects of your organizations depends largely upon how your ProfNet account was originally set up.   On ProfNet accounts, there is a hierarchy that applies to all members of an organization*. 

*Note: These levels are arbitrarily assigned during the creation of your account, and can be changed.  We apologize in advance if the roles assigned do not align with your organizational structure.

That means that every member of your organization belongs to one of the following classifications – Super Information Officer (SIO), Information Officer (IO), and Expert.

• SIO – The administrator on your account.  There can be more than one SIO on multi-user accounts. SIO’s are the only users that can add or delete other SIO’s or IO’s.  They can also reassign experts to be managed by different members of the organization. 
• IO - A standard user on the account.  They can only change their personal profile or the profiles of any expert they directly manage.  All IO’s are assigned to a single SIO in the organizational hierarchy.
• Expert – the subject matter experts your organization represents.  All experts are managed, or assigned to, a single SIO or IO in the organizational hierarchy.

The Organization View is where you can see the hierarchy of all the users on your account.  This view is organized into a tree of users. If you see a plus sign (+) next to a user, you can click it in order to see the branches below. 

For SIO’s, there is a checkbox next to each user in the tree, which they can use to delete profiles or reassign them to other users (for help reassigning users, please contact our Product Advocate team.  They are available during business hours Monday – Friday by phone at 1-800-482-4220 or by email at productsupport@prnewswire.com).

Here SIO’s can update the basic information about their organization.  These details describe your organization only, not your Experts. This information is not shown to journalists when they search and view your expert’s profile. 

In this view, SIO’s can click on “View organization feeds” at the bottom of the page to see a list of ProfNet query feeds their organization subscribes to.  Any additions or deletions to the categories in this subscription must be done by sending an email to productsupport@prnewswire.com .

On this tab, SIO’s can add users to their account, while both SIO’s and IO’s can create Expert Profiles.  

To add a new user, click on the My Organization on the top menu, then the Create Profile Tab and follow these steps:

1. Profile Type – Select either IO or SIO (if you select IO, you will need to assign this new user to an SIO later on this form).

 





2. Fill in the following required fields:
   • First name
   • Last name
   • Title
   • User login (should be their email address)
   • Assign To (When adding a new IO, you will need to select an SIO from the drop down menu)
   • Email ID (should be the same as user login. ProfNet Queries are delivered to this address)
   • Country
   • State
3. Fill in any of the remaining fields, which are optional. 
4. To finalize adding the new user, click the green “Create Profile” button at the bottom of the screen. 
5. Once submitted, you will see a prompt on the screen stating “The new user profile has been submitted for approval. Once it is approved, the account will take 10 minutes to activate & the new user will also receive a confirmation via email.”







6. Once the new user receives the confirmation email, it is recommended they log in and customize their profile and query feed settings.

The best way to create ProfNet Expert Profiles is to take advantage of the enriched multimedia capabilities on the ProfNet Connect social network. ProfNet Connect, which is available to ProfNet members at no additional charge, provides you with options to integrate photos, videos, white papers and more into your profile, and makes it easier to connect with journalists, bloggers and other industry professionals.  

To get set up with access to ProfNet Connect, please contact our Product Advocate team.  They are available during business hours Monday –Friday by phone at 1-800-482-4220 or by email at productsupport@prnewswire.com.

A detailed guide on how to create Expert Profiles in in ProfNet Connect is available for download here.