It's my first time logging in. Where do I start?

Click on the link to your name in the top right corner if you want to view or modify your account settings. This shows information about your login and general settings to your Data Center account, and there are multiple settings available here. Users with admin access can view and modify all users on the account, as well as add mailhouse vendors to the account.

The Tools menu contains four additional tools that apply to your interactions within data Center.

Manage Seed Names is where you'll go to add a member of your organization to receive your mailings as a monitoring function.

Manual Suppressions is where you'll add special requests from those who wish to be removed from your mailings.

File Transfer is a secure FTP location where you can upload any file type for TRG to access.

Downloads is where you'll go to download a finished list of your own data for mailing or research, and is where TRG will upload data specifically for you.

Home is the default landing page and presents a quick dashboard of key metrics related to your data, which you can configure for your preferences and run reports. For key metrics, use this quick view to determine if you have new trade requests, check your last data, update statistics, or look at current segment crossover. The metrics that appear on your homepage are driven by data you've imported into your data center account.
You'll also need to have data in your account to build research or mailing lists that contain your patrons.

If you don't have data in your account, then Imports is where you'll start and where you'll go to upload and import your patron data for research and mailing lists. Before you import, you'll need to prepare your data files, including how you want to segment your data for import.

Segmentation is a naming convention that groups together patrons with like behaviors and is defined by the segment year, segment type, and segment description. You'll use segments to build research and mailing lists, so a consistent naming convention is a key to success. Segments are automatically created once the file import is complete.

The Segments module shows you all of the data segments you created to use in building, mailing, or research lists. You can also group segments together into a single segment from this page or edit certain segments if you need to change the year type or description.

Once you import data, you can begin research on your patrons or community network.
Campaigns module is where you will use your data for research or mailings. Now that your data is imported, you can begin building research or mailing lists with your own or trade data and run reports on mailing or research lists. Go to the Campaigns module to create a campaign and mailing list. You can then search for and add your segments to your list or include trade segments from participating organizations in your network. Refine your list using geographic, demographic, or multi buyer filters to target just the patrons you want to contact.

You may have sent requests to other organizations when you built your mailing list, or you may have received a trade request from another organization.

The Trades module is where you'll go to approve trade requests that you receive and to see all outstanding trade requests in your own lists. TRG sets some rules around the use of trade data, which offers you a measure of control over the use of your data by other organizations. Trade data is good only for a one time use for each request. That means that if you want to borrow that data again, then you'll need to send and receive trade approval for it each time.

The Reports module is a one stop location for all reports that you can run from your data center account and includes reports on community networks, your lists, your data, and your data quality. Some reports can be run from within a mailing list in the campaign's module, so you can easily research those patrons who appear in that list. Organizations within a community network can also include data from other organizations in their research or mailing list, and compare that data to the community using Community Reports from the Reports page. Once you've completed your research and have received approval for any trade requests, you can then finish your list and export it directly to your mail house vendor.

Vendor Setup is located in the menu under your name. TRG creates a data center account for your vendor to ensure that data transfer is secure.

That's how Data Center is organized and what each module is designed to do.

Continue yourself guided training by topic in the order in which it was delivered here, or by the topic that aligns with what you're wanting to do right now.