OtherWise™ Program

The Wavecrest URL list is 100% human reviewed.

The OtherWise Program - What is It?

OtherWise is a voluntary, confidential, and free program under which we partner one-on-one with participating customers to steadily improve the quality, coverage, and usability of Cyfin or CyBlock. The goal is to maximize the number and percentage of Web sites that the software identifies and categorizes.

Overview of the OtherWise Process

On a voluntary basis, participating customers simply enable the product to automatically send noncategorized site data to Wavecrest headquarters on a weekly basis. (Customers can select the day of the week and the hour of the day that the data will be processed.) Our personnel then research, identify, and categorize the most popular of the unidentified sites and update the Wavecrest URL List (categorization database) accordingly. (We update the list daily.) After the customer downloads the daily list update, the sites in question will be identified and categorized.

Note:  No user names are included in the data sent to Wavecrest.

Dealing with Intranet and Extranet Sites

We occasionally find that many of the URLs included in the OtherWise data represent the customer's internal intranet (and possibly extranet) sites. Because we cannot access these sites, we cannot research and categorize them. Consequently, we may return a list of these particular sites to the participating customer and suggest that they enter them into one or more custom categories which they can create themselves. Cyfin and CyBlock permit the establishment of custom categories which customers can use to track Web use activity involving sites that are of particular or unique interest to them only; intranet sites are the most common of such sites.

Results

Customers that use our highly personalized OtherWise service have reported significant reductions in the number and percentage of unidentified Web visits.

Confidentiality

Customer information sent to Wavecrest is treated as totally confidential. Data fed back to us is destroyed immediately after use.

Your Part in the OtherWise Program

Your part is really very simple. If you follow these easy steps, you'll get the most out of OtherWise, and we're confident you'll see a marked reduction in the "Other" percentage.

1.  Participate in OtherWise through your CyBlock or Cyfin product.

If you choose to participate, it’s easy. Simply enable OtherWise on the Settings - Reports - OtherWise screen. The product will then send us noncategorized site data on a weekly basis automatically. (You can accept the default day/time the report will run, or you can set your own weekly schedule.)

2.  Update your Wavecrest URL List daily.

The URL List is updated daily, and we recommend strongly that you download the latest list daily so that you can benefit from the newest categorized URLs. You can set up Cyfin or CyBlock to perform the download automatically if you wish.

3.  Analyze our message listing intranet sites we found (if applicable).

When we review the Top Noncategorized Sites Reports that you send us, we may come across and list the URLs of any internal (intranet or extranet) sites. Since we are unable to access these sites for research or categorization purposes, we will send you a message containing the list. If you have a large number of such sites, we strongly recommend that you look for ways to group them into custom categories of your own choosing, e.g., Benefits, Payroll, Purchasing, Personnel Records, Other Divisions, and corporate home page. (See next step.)

Tip:  When you review our message, we recommend that you analyze the URL List for intranet sites that have some type of numerical indicator (031, 142, etc.). When you find one, we recommend that you look through other company records for more sites that are similarly or contiguously numbered and group them together in custom categories.

Note:  You can also use a DNS lookup tool such as "nslookup" or similar utility to find such sites.

4.  Create One or More Custom Categories.

After you complete step 3, we recommend that you set up one or more custom categories and assign the internal URLs to them. Your product manual contains instructions for creating and implementing custom categories. (Once custom categories are established, Cyfin or CyBlock will report on them in the same manner as standard categories. And in CyBlock, custom categories can also be used for blocking purposes.) Our Technical Support team will be glad to assist you should you need any help setting up custom categories. They can be reached at 321-953-5351, Ext. 4 or support@wavecrest.net.

Finally, we hope that these tips will be helpful to start you on your way to improved reporting results. Don't hesitate to give us a call at 321-953-5351 or send us an e-mail at sites@wavecrest.net, if you ever have any questions or concerns regarding Cyfin or CyBlock site categories, custom categories, or the OtherWise program.