Creating Collaborative Workspaces

In this chapter, we discuss how to create a Collaborative Workspace.

Understanding Collaborative Workspace Creation

You can create a Collaborative Workspace from the following points of entry:

Directly from the transaction for which you are creating the Collaborative Workspace.

The benefits of creating a Collaborative Workspace from this point of entry include:
- On the Select a Workspace Template page, the Collaborative Workspace creation wizard prompts with any available recommended Collaborative Workspace templates associated with the transaction.
- On the Relate Workspace to a Transaction page, the Collaborative Workspace creation wizard populates applicable contextual data fields with values from the selected transaction.
From the Workspaces menu item.

When you create a Collaborative Workspace from this point of entry, you manually enter the values discussed above.
From the My Workspaces pagelet.

See My Workspaces Pagelet.

Creating a Collaborative Workspace

In this section, we discuss the following steps involved in creating a Collaborative Workspace:

Select a Collaborative Workspace template.
Relate the Collaborative Workspace to a transaction.
Name and describe the Collaborative Workspace.
Select modules to add to the Collaborative Workspace.
Add members to the Collaborative Workspace.

Pages Used to Create a Collaborative Workspace

Page Name	Object Name	Navigation	Usage
Select A Workspace Template	EPPCW_WIZ_TMPL	Portal Administration, Workspaces, Create Workspace Workspaces Click the Create Workspace button on the Workspaces page. Click the icon for step 1 on any page in the Create A Collaborative Workspace wizard.	Select the template on which you want to base your Collaborative Workspace.
Relate Workspace to a Transaction	EPPCW_WIZ_KEYS	Click the Next button or the icon for step 2 on the Select Workspace Template page. Click the icon for step 2 on any page in the Create A Collaborative Workspace wizard.	If the Collaborative Workspace template on which you are basing the creation of your Collaborative Workspace instance contains contextual data, you can use this page to relate the Collaborative Workspace instance to specific data about a transaction. This relationship helps categorize your Collaborative Workspace instance and provides relevant contextual information.
Name and Describe Workspace	EPPCW_WIZ_DESCR	Click the Next button or the icon for step 3 on the Relate Workspace to a Transaction page. Click the icon for step 3 on any page in the Create A Collaborative Workspace wizard.	Enter a name, description, and category to help identify your Collaborative Workspace instance.
Select Workspace Modules	EPPCW_WIZ_MOD	Click the Next button or the icon for step 4 on the Name and Describe Workspace page. Click the icon for step 4 on any page in the Create A Collaborative Workspace wizard.	Select the modules you want to include in your Collaborative Workspace instance.
Add Members	EPPCW_WIZ_MBR	Click the Next button or the icon for step 5 on the Select Workspace Modules page. Click the icon for step 5 on any page in the Create A Collaborative Workspace wizard.	Select and invite members to participate in your Collaborative Workspace instance.

Step 1: Selecting a Workspace Template

Access the Select A Workspace Template page.

Template

Select the template on which you want to base your Collaborative Workspace.

If you have accessed this component directly from the transaction for which you are building this Collaborative Workspace and the transaction has been associated with a Collaborative Workspace template, a recommended template is selected by default, but can be overridden.

Description

A description of the selected template displays.

Contextual Data

If you have selected a template and contextual data has been defined for the template, the labels of the key fields selected to supply contextual data display here.

Step 2: Relating a Workspace to a Transaction

Access the Relate Workspace to a Transaction page.

Note. If there is no contextual data required for this workspace, this step is skipped and the system displays step 3 automatically.

Contextual Data

If you have selected a template on the Select a Workspace Template page and contextual data has been defined for the template, the key fields selected to supply contextual data display here. In addition, if you have accessed this component directly from a transaction for which you are building this Collaborative Workspace, applicable values display in the key fields. If you did not access this component directly from a transaction, you can enter your own values in the key fields.

For example, if you tied a template to a customer profile transaction with a key of customer ID, you could create a Collaborative Workspace that is contextually tied to a customer. Another example could involve a template tied to a help desk transaction with a key of case ID. You could create a Collaborative Workspace that is contextually tied to a specific case.

Note. While you can manually enter data on this page, we recommend that you populate these fields by creating a Collaborative Workspace directly from a transaction.

Step 3: Naming and Describing a Collaborative Workspace

Access the Name and Describe Workspace page.

Name

Enter a name for the Collaborative Workspace. This name appears everywhere the Collaborative Workspace is listed, including at the top of the Collaborative Workspace menu and in the search and browse features on the Manage Templates page and Manage Workspaces page.

Category

Select a category for the Collaborative Workspace.

If you have selected a template on the Select a Workspace Template page and a category has been defined for the template, the category displays by default. You can select a different category if the template definition specifies that the category can be overridden.

Step 4: Selecting Collaborative Workspace Modules

Access the Select Workspace Modules page.

If you have selected a template on the Select a Workspace Template page and modules has been defined for the template, those modules are selected by default. You can select and remove modules as appropriate to your Collaborative Workspace. Removing a module simply hides the link to the module. Data is preserved and not activity in the module is deleted. If you select to include the module in the Collaborative Workspace in the future, all data present prior to its removal will still be available.

Member and Administration values are selected and unavailable for editing because those modules are required in a Collaborative Workspace.

Step 5: Adding Collaborative Workspace Members

Access the Add Members page.

You can add members and create a user account using this page when you create the Collaborative Workspace instance. However, you can also use the Administration - Members page accessed from the Collaborative Workspace instance to add and remove members.

If you have selected a template on the Select a Workspace Template page and the template contains definitions for default members, those members will display on this page, but can be overridden.

See Administering Collaborative Workspace Instance Members.

Members

Send Invite	Select to send an invitation to the member, alerting them that they have been asked to join a Collaborative Workspace. The invitation will include a link to the Collaborative Workspace Welcome page. You define invitation text on the Invitation Text page.
Type	Select the type of member you want to add to the Collaborative Workspace. To be able to select Administrator or Owner in the Privilege Set field, you must select the User value here. Available values include: Role. Select to be able to select a role in the Member Name field. Available roles are derived from PeopleSoft roles defined in the Roles component. See Enterprise PeopleTools 8.48 PeopleBook: Internet Technology, “Setting Up Roles” User. Select to be able to select a user in the Member Name field. Available users are derived from PeopleSoft users defined in the User Profiles component. See Enterprise PeopleTools 8.48 PeopleBook: Security Administration, “Administering User Profiles”
Member Name	Select a name from the list of users.
Privilege Set	Select a privilege level you want to assign to the member. To be able to assign the Administrator or Owner privilege level to a member, you must have selected User in the Type field. Available values are: Administrator. Approver. Contributor. Moderator. Owner. Viewer. See Understanding Collaborative Workspace Member Privilege Sets.
Add Workspace Member	Click to add another row to the page and enter another user's information.
Create User Account	Click to access the Create User Account page that enables you to enter a new username and email account for an external member.
Finish	Click to create and access the Collaborative Workspace Welcome page. See Using Collaborative Workspaces.

Creating an External User Account

Access the Create User Account page.

Enter the email address and name for the external user. A dynamically created password will be mailed to the user enabling access to the workspace. When the external user logs in to the workspace for the first time, the Change Password page is displayed and they are asked to change the password that was sent in the invitation. The username in the system is based on the email address of the external user. External user information can be accessed and managed from the Manage External User page.

See Managing External User Accounts for Workspaces.

Creating Workspaces in Batch Mode

Enter or select a run control ID to access the Batch Workspace Create page.

Application Engine job that accepts XML to create a new workspace or update existing workspaces in a batch process.

The Application Engine job returns a standard processing log for the job and an XML file of any workspaces that had errors and were not created by the process. This would include files that had blank values for required elements. You can correct the XML blocks and resubmit them for processing.

Report Manager	Click to access the Report Manager module to view report results.
Process Monitor	Click to access the Process Monitor to view the status of job requests.
Run/Schedule	Select to display the Process Scheduler page where you can start the Application Engine process that creates or modifies the workspaces.
View Document Type Definition (DTD)	Click to view the delivered document type definition.
View Sample XML file	Click to view the delivered sample XML file. Copy this file and modify it with the information necessary to create or update workspaces.
Select File	Select this button to browse to a local XML file that you want to use to create or modify the workspaces.
Notify Workspace Owners	Select this option to send an email to members who are also owners of the workspace that you have created a new workspace.

Modifying the XML File Attributes for Workspaces

Copy the delivered sample XML file and modify it to create or modify a specific workspace. To create or update multiple workspaces, copy and modify the block of XML for each workspace you are modifying or creating.

Workspace Title	Required attribute (for Add mode only). Enter the name of the workspace.
Mode	Enter Add or Update. If you are updating the workspace, then the portal name becomes a required attribute.
Portal Name	Enter the name of the portal. This is required only when the Mode attribute is Update.
Description	Optional attribute. Enter a text string describing the workspace.
Welcome Text	Optional attribute. Enter text that you want to appear as a welcome message on the Welcome pagelet.
Invitation Text	Optional attribute. Enter the text that is sent out in an email as an invitation to the workspace.
Category	Optional attribute. Enter the name of the category you want to assign to the Collaborative Workspace instance. Categories in the hierarchy displayed on the page are defined on the Collaborative Workspace Category Hierarchy page
Template	Optional attribute. Enter the template name for the workspace.
Validfrom	Enter the date that the workspace becomes valid.
Validto	Enter the date that the workspace is no longer valid.
Members	Enter the user name or role and the privilege set for each user or role.
Keys	Enter key names, values, descriptions, and whether the key will be hidden or show.

The output file is named EPPCW_BATCH_ERROR.xml and is written to the application server. Use the Process Monitor to access the log file.