If you have a lot of information you need to have entered into the system, you have a couple of options:

1. Use the import tool. In cases where you have a lot of records, like a list of 500+ companies in an Excel spreadsheet, you can upload the data using a template formatted by the application to fit your form configuration. Click here to learn more about the import tool, and talk to your Inova administrator about getting access or about getting training from your Inova rep if needed. 
   
2. If your data is more complex, such as a list of 500+ companies plus associated project information some attached documents for each record, a custom data migration can take care of it. Inova has developed migration tools that can extract the data from a source such as an Excel file and migrate it into the system into specific fields to create different types of objects, based on client requirements. Such migrations require: A mapping exercise where you work with a technical specialist to ensure each column in your spreadsheet matches a field or fields in the Inova system; adjustment of the technical tools by the specialist; test migrations; and final validation by you, the user. In most cases, migrations can be covered for a minimal amount of service days. Contact your Inova representative for details and to receive a quote. 

Keeping your data clean and free of duplicate records is key to getting value from the application. Clean data results in more effective reporting. Below we describe some tools in the system to help you create clean data and manage duplicates. 

Type-ahead

A type-ahead field is a special type of field that contains a "predictive typing" or "autocomplete" function. As you enter text into a type-ahead field, the application automatically begins searching for objects in the system of that type (e.g. companies or contact names) that match what you're typing.

If your system includes the option for connecting to Thomson, some autocomplete fields will search both D&A and Thomson for company and asset records. For more information, see the articles on Thomson and companies and Thomson and assets.

Type-ahead fields help you to find out what has already been entered into the system for that object type, giving you the option to quickly and easily link to the existing object, or create a new object that will be saved into the system and available for you and other users in future data entry. With type-aheads, you save time and avoid creating duplicate data.

Note:

• Type-aheads can be found in Create New forms, add pages, editable lists, and choose pages.
• A type-ahead is sometimes referred to as a "quick choose" field.
• All type-aheads include the option for you to type in an asterisk * and display a full list of all the items in the system that could populate that field.

If the system can't find a company or other value that you are looking for, it could be that the value does exist in the system, but when you typed it into the type-ahead field it was not spelled the same way as when it was first entered in the system. Try changing the spelling of the value or name and see if the system finds a match before attempting to create a new object. This will help you to keep system data cleaner and easier for other users to link to.

Duplicate Detection

When creating some objects such as assets or companies, the Inova application uses pre-defined rules to determine if you're creating a duplicate. If so, it will display this message: 

Click Details to view the potential duplicates.

If one of the duplicates is restricted, contact the owner of the object to make sure you're not creating a duplicate. 

Thomson-related tools

The name field on the asset and company can be configured to include an additional search feature that help you avoid creating duplicate records. It searches both your Inova system and Thomson's Cortellis database at the same time. For details, check these articles: Thomson Cortellis and Assets and Thomson Cortellis and Companies.  This feature can be enabled in your application's form configuration regardless of whether you have a Cortellis license. 

Additionally, the Thomson Advanced Query form (which does require a Thomson license) will display on its search results page an icon that indicates when a record already exists in your Inova system--but in this case, when you choose the record for import it will update the existing record, not create a duplicate:

Merge tool

If you created or found a duplicate company or contact, contact your system administrator to perform a merge of the duplicate data.

Page Settings

Each object page as well as the Home Page has a Page Settings button, as shown in the screenshot below. Page Settings allows you to choose the tabs you want display or hide on that page.

Page Settings are user-specific, but global to the object type. So when you choose to display certain tabs on a Company, for example, those tabs will be displayed for every company, but only for you. Other users can choose to display different tabs. 

1. Under Available, you can see all the tabs which are currently not displayed, but which you can choose to display
2. Under Visible, you see all the tabs currently visible
3. Use the arrows to hide or display tabs

Tip: Display or hide multiple tabs in one go by pressing the Control key, selecting all the relevant tabs, then clicking the relevant arrow. 

Notifications and mails are send with links and in HTML format. Depending on security rules on your computer, they might be send in your Spam box.

Please check your Spams. If you find emails send from Application here, authorize the sender in settings.

If you want to view a file in the document manager, you must first download it. You cannot open it in your browser. 

If you click on the "Open File detail Page" button, the system will display the document overview page, where you can find additional details about the document, including keywords and versions. 

For users to be authenticated silently thanks to Single Sign-On (SSO) when using the Outlook add-in, some Internet Explorer security settings need to be adjusted.

This can be done individually by each user or more globally applied to all users by your Administrator.

More precisely, some URLs related to your Inova application must be added the Internet Explorer Local Intranet Sites dialog box. Here is how to do so :

Users

1. In Internet Explorer, click Tools, and then click Internet Options.
2. On the Security tab, click Local Intranet, and then click Sites.
3. Click Advanced, and then type: https://*.partneringplace.com (or at least https://yourcompany.partneringplace.com and https://app.partneringplace.com) in the Add this Web site to the zone box.
4. Click Add, click OK, click OK, and then click OK again to close the Internet Options dialog box.
5. Restart your computer.

If you cannot change these settings, this probably means that they are centrally managed by your Administrator via group policy.

Administrators

Administrators can set a Group Policy Object (GPO) that will add those URLs to the Local Intranet sites zone on Internet Explorer for all users. 

If nothing happens when you click on the Outlook Inova tab "Settings" button, it probably means that the configuration file has been somehow corrupted.

In this case, to fix this issue you need to recreate this configuration file by deleting (or renaming) it, at which point the Outlook add-in will recreate the "user.config" file automatically. 

Here is how to do so :

1. Stop Outlook.
2. Delete (or rename) the configuration file labeled "user.config".
   You will find this file on your computer, in the following location :

C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Inova Software\PartnerPushAddIn\settings

If you cannot find the AppData folder, here is a workaround:

• Go to your profile folder : C:\Users\[username]
• Click in the location bar (where it says C:\Users\[username])
• Click again to unselect the text in the location bar (do not type over it)
• Then add the following path just after your username and hit "Enter" :

  \AppData\Local\Inova Software\PartnerPushAddIn\settings\

3. Start Outlook.
4. Click on the Inova tab and then on the Settings button.
5. Configure the add-in. A new "user.config" file will be then automatically created.

To find out which version of Outlook is installed locally on your Windows computer, please follow these steps:

1. In Outlook, click on "File"
2. Click on "Office Account" (or "Help" and then "About Outlook" if you don't see "Office Account")
3. Under "Product Information", click on "About Outlook" to see your version and build number

If you need detailed information, please read this Microsoft Knowledge Base article.

Outlook 2013 and later versions provide add-in resiliency. This means that Outlook will disable an add-in if it performs slowly.

In most cases, when this happens, the procedure explained in this article is sufficient to re-enable the Outlook add-in.

Unfortunately, in rare cases, Outlook may permanently disable the add-in which will then cause this procedure to fail.

If this is the case for you, here is the solution to unlock the situation:

1. Close Outlook
2. Double-click on the .reg file corresponding to your version of Outlook
   • Click here to download .reg file for Outlook 2013
   • Click here to download .reg file for Outlook 2016
3. If an alert message appears, please confirm
4. Open Outlook
5. Check that the Add-In is now enabled again

You need to have Administrator privileges to be able to apply the registry changes via the .reg files provided in this article.

Related articles

• How can I find out what version of Outlook I am using?
• The "Inova" tab has disappeared, what can I do?

During the installation of the Outlook Add-in, you might receive an error message that will halt the installation (the error code might differ from that shown in the screenshot):

The following Microsoft Office solution cannot be installed due to a general installer error: InovaPushAddIn.vsto

0x8007007E

We have most commonly seen this error occur with users running Windows 10 and Office 2016 on a Microsoft Surface Pro.

Workaround :

1. Download and install Visual Studio 2010 Tools for Office (Microsoft link)
2. Install the Outlook Add-in again (setup.exe)

1. Exit Outlook
2. Open the Control Panel and then go to Programs and Features
3. Scroll down the list to find Inova Partner Outlook Add-in
4. Click its name to highlight it and then do a right click with your mouse to make the Uninstall button appears
5. Click on Uninstall and you'll get a pop-up warning that the program will be removed
6. Confirm by clicking on OK

The workflow is used to establish a common business process for all opportunities in the pipeline. It keeps business development and other team members aligned in how they evaluate and make decisions on opportunities and supports accurate reporting. Based on best practices gathered from working with  our clients over the years, Inova has developed the following standard BD workflow:

Initial Screening: The S&E team picks up a new opportunity and reviews whatever information is available about the company and opportunity pre-CDA, e.g. company presentations, non-confidential package provided by the potential partner,  notes taken during meetings at conferences, publicly available information on the web such as press releases and journal publications. Along with all the rest of the new opportunities, the S&E team runs a triage meeting to decide if they will decline the opportunity or move ahead into a deeper evaluation. Key criteria for them to move forward: Is the opportunity a strategic fit? If S&E decides to move ahead, they sign a CDA with the other company and move to the next stage in the process. In companies with a dedicated S&E group, at this stage, S&E transfer the opportunity to the BD team for the confidential evaluation.

Confidential Evaluation: With the CDA in hand, the BD team now has more information about the opportunity including test/clinical trials results, efficacy/drug safety data, market fit, and company financials. In this deep dive, the team checks whether the opportunity is feasible financially, market-wise, and competition-wise. Based on the results of the analysis, the team meets to decide whether to move the opportunity into Due Diligence. The team may also draft an initial version of the term sheet.         

Due Diligence: This is an extensive effort in which the BD team--or a separate Due Diligence team--gets experts to investigate, do analysis, review documentation, and provide input about the opportunity in specific areas: Scientific expertise, investment / forecasting (finance), IP infringements / investigation (legal). The goal is to identify risks or red flags. Participating experts are primarily internal but can include people external to the company, such as consultants. These experts will share documents and respond to specific questions about the opportunity that are related to their area of expertise. At the end of the process, the team will meet to make a final decision and produce a report with their findings.

Negotiation: Assuming the outcome of Due Diligence is positive and the decision on both sides is to move forward, the team will work on contract negotiations. This will involve the BD team as well as legal, finance, and the transaction team who will draft the agreement.  If the term sheet was created early in the process and the due diligence stage revealed some details that could impact those terms, then the agreement would include any changes or amendments to reflect this new information.

Contracting: In the last stage of the process, the agreement will be finalized by both parties and signed. This is often also the point at which the BD team will begin transferring information about the opportunity to the alliance management team, who will take over once the final agreement is signed.

If you have any questions or would like to implement this workflow on your platform to benefit your business development organization, contact your Inova Customer Success Manager. 

The triage meeting is a regularly-scheduled session in which the business development or S&E team decides on whether or not to move new opportunities in their pipeline from initial screening to a confidential review. As Inova users, you can take advantage of tools in the application to apply best practices in preparing for, running, and conducting follow-ups for this meeting. The results will be better sharing and tracking of information about these opportunities among your team members, more efficient and effective decision-making, and quicker follow-ups.

The triage meeting use case is divided into three basic steps: Before, during, and after the meeting itself. The main tools used are the meetings module, the Opportunity One-Pager, lister features, email templates, and the document manager.

Step 1: Before the meeting

1. Create a meeting with a type of internal and name the meeting “Triage meeting – [DATE]”.
2. Link the names of the meeting participants in the Attendees tab.
3. From the Opportunities list, link the meeting to all the opportunities that will be discussed:
   1. Add the Meetings column to the Opportunities list.
   2. Use filtering and sorting to narrow the list down to the opportunities to be triaged in that meeting, e.g. active opportunities created within the last month under a specific therapeutic area.
   3. Use the Edit Page feature to link your triage meeting to each opportunity.

   Save time for future triage meetings by creating a Triage Meeting template view of these lister settings. Be sure to include the columns for status changes, comments and next steps (this will come in handy later, as you'll see in Step 3 below).

4. Share the list of opportunities for everyone to review and prepare before the meeting begins:
   1. Export the list from step 3.2 to Excel OR filter the Opportunity One-Pager dashboard by this new triage meeting and export it to PowerPoint. 
   2. Upload the Excel or PPT file to the document manger of the triage meeting.
   3. On the attendees tab of the meeting record, use the Email All feature to send the file to everyone.

   To keep things clear for meeting attendees who are not users of the platform, use a designated email template, "Triage Meeting Prep."

Step 2: During the meeting

1. Designate one of the attendees as the note-taker or scribe and have them project Inova to the conference room screen. 
2. In the Opportunities list, filter the list by the current triage meeting. 
3. Right-click the name of each opportunity to open it in a separate browser tab for review. 
4. As you discuss each opportunity, edit its status, comments, etc. as needed. 

   If the opportunity is configured with a Description and Next Steps field, cut and paste any previous text from Next Steps into the Description field, then enter comments from the triage meeting into Next Steps. 

   To avoid system timeouts, don’t use the Edit Page feature to make these kinds of changes. Update each opportunity one at a time. 

5. If an opportunity passes triage, update the Initial Screening stage in the workflow to Completed.

Step 3: After the meeting

1. Export the list of updated opportunities to Excel. 
2. Upload the file to the document manager of the triage meeting record.
3. Use the Email All feature on the attendees list to send this updated list to the meeting participants.

   As mentioned in Step 1 above, you can use another designated email template, this time called “Post-triage Follow-ups.”

If you have any questions or would like to implement these best practices with your business development team, contact your Inova Customer Success Manager.