2.3 Creating a Team Workspace

By default, anyone can create a team workspace (your site administrator will inform you, if the defaults are altered for your organization’s installation). Create a team workspace when a collection of workspaces and folders would facilitate your team’s mission.

This section includes the following subsections:

2.3.1 Create the Workspace

To create a team workspace:

  1. On the portal page, in the workspace tree, click Team workspaces:

    The Team Workspaces Link in the Workspace Tree

    By default, all team workspaces are contained within Team workspaces. Your site administrator might instruct you to go to a different workspace to create your team workspace. If so, the remaining steps in the process are the same.

  2. Click the Add a team workspace button, located just under the workspace tree toward the top of the page:

    The Add a Team Workspace Button

    Novell Teaming displays a form used to create your team workspace.

  3. Provide a title for your team workspace.

  4. In the Team members section, use the type-to-find feature (typing a few letters as Novell Teaming supplies a list of links that match what you have typed so far) to specify your teammates.

  5. In the Workspace folders section, select the check box next to the folders you want your team workspace to contain. (You can also add sub-workspaces and more folders later.)

  6. (Optional) In the Announcement section of the form, click the checkbox and provide a message in the Announcement text box. Novell Teaming automatically sends the announcement text in an e-mail message to your teammates after you submit this form.

  7. Click OK.

Tips for Team Workspaces

  • As the owner of this workspace, you are primarily responsible for workspace administration. Examples of those tasks include creating other containers for information (sub-workspaces and folders), adjusting access control (which determines who can do what in the workspace), and providing some initial content to assist team members with getting started.

  • Do not provide a large volume of content. For the workspace to match the needs and style of your team, your teammates’ active participation should contribute content and guide administrative decisions.

2.3.2 Viewing Team Members

By default, Novell Teaming includes a team-membership accessory on your workspace page, which shows you your teammates. Accessories are sections at the top of workspaces and folders that provide summary information for you. In this case, the accessory shows you a list of team members for the new team workspace. If you want to close an accessory to provide more room for viewing other contents of the workspace or folder, click the Currently displayed (down-arrow) icon toward the upper right corner of the Team members accessory panel:

Figure 2-9 Collapsing the Team Members Accessory Panel

Collapsing the Team Members Accessory Panel: images © comteche.com

If this accessory is not present, do the following to view the team membership:

  1. View your team workspace.

  2. Click Team > Show team membership.

2.3.3 Communicating with Teammates

In addition to having a workspace to contain more items, team workspaces allow for faster communication among teammates. To use team communication tools:

  1. Click the Team menu on the management menu bar.

  2. Click either Create a meeting with the team or Send mail to the team.

Teammates participate in meetings by using their Novell Conferencing clients.

2.3.4 Allowing Visitors to Your Team Workspace

By default, only team members can view and participate in the workspaces and folders contained in the team workspace. There might be times when you want to allow other people to visit your team workspace (which, by default, means that they can read entries and comment on them, but they cannot create entries).

To allow visitors to your team workspace:

  1. Sign in as the owner of the team workspace.

  2. Navigate to your team-workspace page.

  3. Click Manage > Access control:

    Using the Manage Menu for Access Control

    Novell Teaming displays the Configure access control form for the team workspace.

  4. In the This folder... section, if it is not set to No already, click the no radio button, and click Apply:

    Turning Off Inheritance

  5. Click Add a role > Visitor:

    Adding a Visitor Role to the Access Control Table

  6. Toward the bottom-left portion of the form, click Add a user, and use the type-to-find feature to select a name:

    Adding a User to the Access Control Table

  7. In that new user’s row, select the check box in the Visitor column:

    Enabling Visitor Status for Someone in the Access Control Table

  8. Repeat Step 6 and Step 7 until you have added all your visitors.

  9. Click Save changes.

  10. Click Close.

The people for whom you selected the Visitor role have the right to view your team workspace and to add comments to existing entries. They cannot create new entries.