Working With Collaborative Workspaces

This chapter provides an overview of Collaborative Workspaces and discusses the general usage task flow of a Collaborative Workspace.

Understanding Collaborative Workspaces

A Collaborative Workspace is a virtual team room. You can create a Collaborative Workspace to facilitate the completion of a project that requires a team to work collaboratively to accomplish their goals, even if team members are in disparate locations.

Some collaborative projects focus on temporary issues that require short intense collaborative sessions, such as closing a sales deal or an open incident. Other projects may be ongoing, such as coordinating the work for a department. Collaborative Workspaces can be created to accommodate both types of projects.

You can configure a Collaborative Workspace to include the following modules that enable team members to collaborate online, asynchronously or synchronously:

Welcome module.

Use the Welcome module as the front page and standard entry area for a Collaborative Workspace.

You can also configure the Welcome page to display pagelets relevant to the content of the Collaborative Workspace, including pagelets associated with the Discussions, Documents, and Links modules.

See Designating the Content and Layout of the Welcome Page.
Discussions module.

Use the Discussions module to participant in a discussion group relevant to a Collaborative Workspace. The Discussions module enables members of a Collaborative Workspace to post discussion topics and replies. Members can monitor recent discussion postings using the Recent Discussions pagelet that you can display on the Welcome page.

See Using the Discussions Module.
Documents module.

Use the Documents modules to publish and view shared documents relevant to a Collaborative Workspace. Members can monitor recent document postings using the Recent Documents pagelet that you can display on the Welcome page.

See Using the Documents Module.
Members module.

Use the Members module to get information about and communicate with Collaborative Workspace members. The Members module provides access to a member profile, as well as tools to initiate emails and instant messaging with members.

See Using the Members Module.
Links module.

Use the Links module to create a collection of links relevant to the Collaborative Workspace. This collection displays in the Links pagelet that you can display on the Welcome page.

See Using the Links Module.
Related Data module.

Use the Related Data module to access a collection of pagelets relevant to the Collaborative Workspace. This collection of pagelets is compiled by the Collaborative Workspace administrator.

See Using the Related Data Module.

Understanding the Collaborative Workspace Usage Task Flow

The following steps illustrate the general usage task flow for Collaborative Workspaces:

Perform Collaborative Workspace setup tasks.

See Setting Up Collaborative Workspace Options and Templates.
Create a Collaborative Workspace.

See Creating Collaborative Workspaces.
Administer elements in the Collaborative Workspace.

See Administering Collaborative Workspaces.
Use the Collaborative Workspace.

See Using Collaborative Workspaces.

Understanding Collaborative Workspace Member Privilege Sets

When you add a member to a Collaborative Workspace, you assign them one of the following delivered privilege sets:

Owner.
Administrator.
Approver.
Moderator.
Contributor.
Viewer.

This security defined for a member at the Collaborative Workspace level defines a member's privileges at the Collaborative Workspace module level. For example, a member defined as a viewer for a Collaborative Workspace, will have viewer privileges in all modules.

Welcome Module Privilege

The following table shows the Welcome-module-related privilege provided by applicable privilege sets.

Privilege	Privilege Set
Change layout.	Owner, Administrator

Related Data Module Privileges

The following table shows the Related-Data-module-related privileges provided by applicable privilege sets.

Privilege	Privilege Set
Add and delete pagelets.	Owner, Administrator
Change layout.	Owner, Administrator

Administration Module Privileges

The following table shows the Administration-module-related privileges provided by applicable privilege sets.

Privilege	Privilege Set
Add/delete pagelets.	Owner, Administrator
Add modules.	Owner, Administrator
Change workspace properties.	Owner, Administrator
Delete modules.	Owner, Administrator
Edit workspace layout.	Owner, Administrator
Update contextual data.	Owner, Administrator
Update valid dates.	Owner
Update welcome text.	Owner, Administrator

Discussions Module Privileges

The following table shows the Discussion-module-related privileges provided by applicable privilege sets.

Privilege	Privilege Set
Add and delete topics. (individual)	Owner, Administrator, Moderator, Contributor
Add and delete responses. (individual)	Owner, Administrator, Moderator, Contributor
Add and delete topics. (all)	Owner, Administrator, Moderator
Add and delete responses. (all)	Owner, Administrator, Moderator
View topics and responses.	Owner, Administrator, Moderator, Contributor, Viewer

Documents Module Privileges

The following table shows the Documents-module-related privileges provided by applicable privilege sets.

Privilege	Privilege Set
Add and delete pieces of content.	Owner, Administrator, Approver, Moderator, Contributor
Add and delete folders.	Owner, Administrator, Approver, Moderator, Contributor
View hierarchy and content.	Owner, Administrator, Approver, Moderator, Contributor, Viewer
Approve content.	Owner, Administrator, Approver

Links Module Privileges

The following table shows the Links-module-related privileges provided by applicable privilege sets.

Privilege	Privilege Set
Add and delete links. (individual)	Owner, Approver, Moderator, Contributor
Add and delete links. (all)	Owner, Administrator
Add and delete folders. (individual)	Owner, Approver, Moderator, Contributor
Add and delete folders. (all)	Owner, Administrator
View hierarchy and content	Owner, Administrator, Moderator, Contributor, Viewer

Members Module Privileges

The following table shows the Members-module-related privileges provided by applicable privilege sets.

Privilege	Permission Level
Add and delete members.	Owner, Administrator
Change profile details. (individual)	Owner, Administrator, Moderator, Contributor
Change profile details. (all)	Owner, Administrator
View members and profiles.	Owner, Administrator, Moderator, Contributor, Viewer